Years of Practice
by nevermetawolf
Summary: What if Kaname had saved Zero instead of Yuuki on the fateful night of his parents' death? AU.
1. Snow Angel

**HEY THERE!**

**Cliche, overused plotline, I know. I couldn't resist.**

**I REALLY haven't abandoned **_**Luxury**_**, I promise. It's just really hard to type one story when you have this other one prancing around your head like freaking Bambi or something... where's a gun when you need one? Haha, that joke is in extremely poor taste... **

**In regards to:**

**ORIGINAL VK PLOT - Zero will be taking Yuuki's place (kinda), but will NOT, in any way, be Kaname's unawakened pureblood brother or something... that'd just be dumb... STORY WILL NOT COMPLETELY FOLLOW THE VK STORYLINE. **

**PAIRING - Kaname and Zero will (eventually) have a romantic relationship, so if you don't like boyxboy, why the flip did you click on this story in the first place?**

**YUUKI - Yes, that bit - erherm, **_**girl**_** - is in the story. I'm sorry, but it's kinda hard to have VK without her, AU or not. (But don't worry, no angsty love triangles!) She will be seen as a dear sister ONLY. **

**OOC-NESS - Please, do not go and type something about so-and-so being OOC or something in your review because, believe it or not, I made them that way ON PURPOSE. The whole point of this story was to explore an AU where some of the characters were placed in different roles (mainly Zero and Kaname). After all, outside influences can really affect someone's personality. **

**SEX - Yes, this fic will contain (mild) lemons. I know, you must all be so disheartened by this news...**

**XOXO (Sorry I made you read that entire thing! And I love deer, so please no flames about my horrid Bambi joke!)**

* * *

_**Disclaimer**_**: I OWN NOTHING.**

_**Chapter Warning**_**: blood, minor character death, slight use of foul language (mostly in the A/N hehe), adorable little boys, ...vampires?**

* * *

Pure white. The color of innocence - a soft lamb rested on a cushioned meadowed floor. Of beauty - the melodic flapping of feathered angel wings. Of rest - lazy puffs of clouds breezing slowly in the sky. The color of snow.

As untainted as the shivering child's mind.

_Cold, hungry, tired_. Only simple feelings such as these filled the boy's dazed and wondering spirit as he sunk further into the white, wet ground beneath him. He knows there's more, with every ounce of his being, he does. But his head is too warm and heady with bright confusion and he finds that he can not focus on much more than the heat that seeps from his fingers and toes, without being replenished, and melts the snow. Can only focus on the sharp winds that pierce past his light coat, and sink into his trembling frame. Can only focus on the delicious desire to lie down and close his heavy eyelids, to be swallowed up in the enveloping peaceful darkness of rest.

Through this mindset and weakened state, it comes as no surprise that he doesn't so much as flinch when he is something viciously pierces his neck, the flick of cool, wet silk doing little to numb the initial pain. No, he doesn't even bat an eye, doesn't move an inch. Welcomes it even. Though he is not sure what has happened, if anything, he is well aware of the aching sadness forming deep in his heart. As young and ignorant as he may be, he knows that much.

He does, however, despite his condition, oddly enough come into direct contact with a single fleeting thought, and it's this: what strange we upon had he been assualted with? Not only had it been able to wound him in two equally sized punctures, both merely a few inches apart, but it had also managed to do so at the exact same time. Certainly no hunter weupon he had ever seen could do such a thing.

But, like any five year old, this thought lacked depth and was soon cast away for more simple and shallow musings, like how soft the ground felt on his knees and under his palms, or how completely white the world looked around him - how completely promising. How completely melancholy.

How, in less than a second, the cacophany of sucking and whimpered breaths that he hadn't even realized had been playing loudly in his ear stopped, as did the jabbing stabs of the double-headed weupon on his pliable flesh, and all by a single and flashing hand.

Once the blade leaves, it is replaced with unforgivable burning that rips at every nerve of his body, particulary the inflamed area around the puncture wound and licks maliciously at his throat and the backs of his eyes, coaxing out a strangled cry and twin streams of salty water. The horrible pain doesn't in the slightest begin to let up, as a matter if fact, doubling, then tripling as each slothenly second ticks by and by.

It is almost too much to bear, and more so than before, the creeping darkness is oh so welcoming, and he finds that not only is he unable to resist, but that he has no desire to do so, either. The hurt in his heart fades into insignificance and the worry over whether the blade will return does, too. Finally, he allows his head to fall forward and rest atop the pillowy shades of white and beneath the blanketing comfort of pitch black.

But before he's drifting, before he's swallowed alive by the empty shade that promises absolutely nothing but nothing itself, he sees it.

A boy, a good few years older than him - the boy's wise wine-colored orbs tell him so - reaching out and grasping tightly onto the beautiful, silk skin of a slender neck, his mussed chocolate strands rippling around his perfect constructed, yet softly rounded with his youth, face. The being his ivory hand is clenched so tightly around is equal, if not greater, in such undeniable beauty, with a tall, but femininely curved stature and long, cascading hair the color of moonlight. She is on her knees before him, despite being his elder, and her cherry lips are parted in a silent protest, her midnight blue eyes wide and shaking in absolute terror.

They were angels. They had to be. Their overwhelmingly stunning appearances could belong to no other.

But why did the blue-eyed one emit such fear? And why did the muddied-red globes of the other scream such malcontent and fury? Such complete and utter disgust? Hatred?

Could angels hate?

A snap, sickening, though nowhere as near as the gurgled cry that follows it and the male angel is dropping the motionless female, her lithe form simply toppling over from the lack of support. To the fading and sinking boy's shock, the angel turns to face him with a strong and unwavering gaze that shakes the boy lying helplessly on the ground to his core. Never before had he been so vulnerable - stared straight through. So bare.

The boy looks back to the woman thrown so unelegantly onto the ground, taking in her limp and twisted form. It is then that he sees the bright color painting her face, so explicit and vivid that he wonders how he couldn't have possibly seen it earlier. The shade pooling around her lips and dripping onto the pure white snow.

_Red._

His eyes close, and as does the scene before him, but it does not leave. It never will. It will always be this: his first memory.

* * *

When his bleary eyes finally drift open, the setting is far different than the one he last parted with. He's no longer freezing, now cradled into a chest moving with measured and serene breaths, and nestled safely into a pair of small yet strong encircling arms that, for what they lacked in size, made up for in power. Beneath his fuzzy and jumbled head, he can hear the loud, rhythmic pounding of a beating, living heart.

He gazes up, seeing nothing but a pale neck and a defined jaw with tendrils of mahogany strands framing the sight, and though he cannot see the person's face, he can feel the gentle firmness of their grip around the backs of his knees and neck, and can note from the person's careful posture that they're doing everything in their power to keep him from being jarred by their quick and hurried footsteps. He knows that such kind actions could only belong to any equally kind face.

It is his second memory, and between the two, he thinks he likes this one the best.

* * *

He continues to fade in and out after that, though no one moment between his original awakening in a comforting hold and the time now, when the person carrying him is standing before a door, really stick out. It was mostly a blur of incredible warmth and security, loopy and irrelevant wonderings, and that same blistering white snow.

He does, at one point, recall feeling guilty, however, because the arms supporting his head and legs begin to shake in tiny, restrained shivers. He recalls the surge of gratitude and shock when he realizes that the person is cold because around _his own_ body was an unfamiliar article of clothing - two, in fact: the unknown being's jacket and scarf.

But it's mainly the time spent in front of the door that he really begins to come to it, mostly because he's jostled slightly when the figure above him leans in with the arm underneath his legs to knock politely on the hollow wood. Well, that, and the boisterous greetings of the man who appears on the other side. Though the answering dirty-blonde seemed friendly enough, his hair pulled back to expose a kind and affectionate smile, the boy doesn't at all enjoy the volume of his voice, or the key, for that matter. It was very... squeaky. So, before his awakened state can be detected, he forces his eyes tightly shut, and tries to appear unnoticed as he buries his face into the beating and breathing chest of the person carrying him. He knows they can feel it, too, because he hears their sharp inhale and the speeded thumps of their pulse.

He can also hear the exact moment when the loud man at the door notices him, because his pitch and tone immediately lower to a soft and grave murmuring.

"Kaname-kun." So, _that _was his savior's name. He was male, though in retrospect, that part should have seemed fairly obvious. "Is that - "

"Please," Kaname speaks for the first time in a demanding whisper, smooth like satin, and cold almost, like the night surrounding them. But beautiful all the same. "He's wounded. We can talk later."

A hurried and worried, "Of course. Come in."

There's the sound of shuffling as Kaname no doubt attempts to get through the door without knocking the boy's head into the frame, which the boy himself is quite grateful for, and then the air around them is suddenly silent and cozy, no longer plagued by the harsh waves of whistling winds. The boy thinks he can detect a faint crackling of a fire in the distance.

With this new calm and homely setting, the naturally curious child wants nothing more than to unglue his eyelids and study the room for all it was worth, especially when his nose catches the powerful, but not overbearing, aroma of sweet vanilla. Surely one peek wouldn't hurt -

"Set him on the couch," and the boy recognizes it to be the other man's voice, and that it's retreating to another room. "I'll get something to treat his wound..." There's a clanging in the far background and a muted thud before, "Is it a...?" The gravity in his tone is daunting, enough to fill the boy with a befuddled sense of dread. Was it a what?

"Yes," Kaname states placidly, and the boy almost jumps in shock when the side of his cheek leaves the safety of his savior's chest, and meets the chilled leather of what he suspects to be the couch the other man had mentioned. "A bite. It's a bite." The words are chipped like the plating of rusting metal.

"Fuck," the dirty-blonde-haired man hisses, and at the curse word, the boy emits a tiny gasp, which he quickly tries to cover with a sleepy sigh.

_Bite wound? He was bitten? By what?_

The couch shifts slightly as Kaname settles in beside the boy's resting form. "There's no need to pretend. You can open your eyes now." It takes the boy a second to realize that Kaname is, in fact, speaking to _him_, and with an embarrassed and sheepish expression, he allows his eyes to drift open, flinching as they met light they weren't at all accustomed to from the hours of pitch black darkness. It was white and bright, like the snow, but much more striking.

When his vision finally sets comfortably, and he no longer has to blink the white away, he can see it, coming more an more into focus as each second passes - the faint outline of a pale face. It takes him a moment, mind muddled and weakened, but he sees it - the connection. He stares up into wine-colored orbs framed by long, thick eyelashes, and puts two and two together.

His angel. It was _his_ angel. The one from before. Only, he looked far more different now. Instead of the ugly disgust and hatred that had painted them earlier, his eyes are bright and soft - more like melted chocolate than they were red. upon catching the boy's gaze, Kaname smiles warmly, and the boy knows he must have seen wrong - that such a pretty and gentle expression could not have been in the same place as the one of such contempt was before.

The hand belonging to such a face surely couldn't have been at another's throat.

No, he simply must have remembered wrong.

"Oh, he's awake," the ponytail man proclaims abruptly, waltzing into the room completely unannounced, with a rag tucked under his armpit and a bowl filled to the brim with sloshing water in his palm. Being able to now really view the man, the boy must admit that he most certainly was right about his kindness, that was for sure. Beneath his flashing glasses lied a pair of pleasantly sparkling, caramel irises. However, it's also quite obvious that this man had a tendency to be a little much.

And really, the boy didn't like being interrupted. Especially when he had so many questions so many sentiments of his appreciation.

"Yes," Kaname murmurs, his gaze not leaving the figure beside him, and the boy blinks up at him with wide and wondering lilac eyes.

"I'm glad," the man voices, grinning placatingly after noting the pinched look of irritation and distaste that had crossed the boy's features at his arrival, _and what a great start._ "That'll make this - " he raises the hand balancing the bowl " - a whole lot easier." Another smile. "Now, if you would please sit up..."

The boy does nothing but bite his lip in uncertainty and peek up at Kaname, who nods encouragingly, and places a hand on the boy's shoulder. With little difficulty, he maneuvers his way to a sitting position, Kaname's hand not once losing contact, and looks expectantly back to the man.

"There you go," he praises with a happy nod, and the boy resists the urge to stick his tongue out. He hadn't done it to appease _him_. "Now, I need you to take your jacket off, okay? Can you do that?"

The boy looks to Kaname who nods again. He repeats the motion. With hesitance, he slides the clothing of one arm, and then the other, shivering slightly as his skin was exposed to the cool air. He uncurls the scarf from around his neck and then hands it, along with the jacket to the awaiting hands of Kaname, watching as the brunette quickly sets them on the arm rest beside him, out of view. Still, before he had done so, the boy's almost fairly certain the fabric of both had been stained. But with what?

A tiny squeeze as Kaname's hand returns to his shoulder, though this time, it's flesh against flesh, and in a fleeting thought, the boy wonders where his shirt and actual jacket had gone. He doesn't at all recall either being removed.

A sharp intake of breath, and Kaname's throat is rumbling with an odd noise.

The boy jumps, letting out a tiny squeak of shock, and Kaname, with a suddenly worried and guilty expression, cuts off the sound immediately, instead throwing the gasping man a sharp glare.

"Sorry," the man apologizes, eyes fixed on the boy's neck, though the boy's not entirely sure what he's looking at, "Sorry. I just... it's just..."

"Don't," Kaname mutters, leaving the boy confused beyond words. "Not now. Later."

"Right," the man responds shaikly. Back straightening, he exhales slowly. The aghast look in his eyes disappears, and is replaced by the benevolence that inhabited it earlier. "This may sting a little," the man warns while dipping the white towel into the bowl, the water tinting the fabric a shade darker. With delicacy, he brings it to the boy's neck and traces it softly against the wounded flesh.

Hissing, the boy pulls back and grimaces in pain.

"I know," the man soothes, sharing the boy's discomfort. "I know, but please, bear with me. I have to clean it."

Inhaling slowly, the boy nods and returns to his original position, shoulders tensed.

The man demurs slightly, but then places the cloth back on the boy's stinging neck, rubbing it as painlessly as he can manange. When he finally sets the white towel back into the bowl of water, it's pink.

The boy stomach sickens at that observation.

_Red. Bright red. Dripping. Tainting. Sinisterly darkening the innocent white._

He swallows, but the arising lump in his throat refuses to disappear.

"Kaname-kun," the man says, placing the bowl on a near by table. "Could you fetch me the bandages? I left them over there on the kitchen counter."

With a nod, Kaname begins to rise, and the boy's heart stutters, an acute fear forming in the center of his uneasy stomach.

_Where was he going? Was he leaving?_

Eyes desperate and pulse racing, the boy grabs onto Kaname's sleeve and gives it a desperate yank. "No," he pleads, head shaking. "No."

Instantly, Kaname falls back into the seat, without so much as sending the other man an apologetic glance, and wraps his arm around the shaking and trembling boy's shoulders.

"Okay, okay," he breathes against the boy's silver hair. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

Sighing, the other man stands. "I'll do it," and the boy is almost positive he hears more grumbles of complaint, but by then, he's too far away to tell.

* * *

"There," the man clucks, securing the last bit of the boy's bandage with a self-satisfied grin. "All done."

He looks at the boy and smiles, his head tilting slightly to the side, and it's an odd expression, but the boy doesn't mind it. It wasn't the least bit threatening, after all, and that was really all that mattered.

"Now," the dirty-blonde says with a puff of air, "I'm Kaien." He reaches his hand out and holds it in front of the child's own, tiny one.

Reluctantly, he takes it, shaking it twice before letting go, but it doesn't discourage Kaien's pleasant attitude, which was a little impressive, and very obnoxious.

Kaien eyes him expectantly, and the boy merely blinks back, bemused.

"And your name?"

Another blink.

_Name? _The word sounds strange in the boy's mind. Like it's something he should know, something very imortant.

Kaien smiles mischeviously. "I know you can talk, remember?"

But the boy can't at all be soothed by the notion, and he wants to scream at the man, because _that's not the problem._ He knows he can talk, too. But his name, he doesn't know, and shouldn't he know his name? Frightened tears began to form in the corners of his glistening lilac eyes. _What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he remember?_

"Stop," Kaname orders and the boy looks up at him through the blurry shine. Though the word came out heavy and strong like a boulder, the face it belongs to is gentle and soothing. "It's okay," he assures the tearful boy. "You're name is Kiryuu Zero."

_Zero. Zay-ro._

"Zero?" the boy repeats, tasting the name on his tongue.

Kaname smiles warmly. "Yes, Zero."

* * *

"You can sleep here for tonight, Zero," Kaien murmurs to the small boy. His torso is no longer naked, now covered in the smallest shirt Kaien could manage to locate in his closet (though it still hangs to his knees). Behind him, barely an inch away, is Kaname, and at that, Kaien has to grin knowingly. It had been a mere few hours, but somehow, the Kiryuu child had the soon-to-be pureblood prince wrapped around his tiny finger.

He couldn't fault Kaname for that completely, though. This boy, Zero, made quite an endearing sight, with his messy mop of moonlight strands and his wide, trusting lilac eyes. He was simply adorable, though Kaien suspected that his attitude was probably far from it. Or at least, it was when he was around him. When he was with Kaname, on the otherhand...

Kaien couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. Among other things, he's always desired having a child. Someone to look after and care for, someone to care back. And now that the dream was right in his grasp, it seemed typical that the child wouldn't like him, and would prefer the company of someone else. Of course, Kaname had been the one who'd save him.

But oh well, at least he was safe for the time being. That should and _would _be enough.

"Go ahead," said pureblood nudged Zero forward and to the bed, stopping his persuasion only when the boy was securely tucked underneath the covers with his head resting on the fluffy pillow.

Simply adorable, indeed.

With a sigh, Kaien turned at made for the door, giving Kaname one quick head flick to follow.

Kaien's not sure how Kaname knows to nod in response because when the vampire does so, he's still smiling softly at the already near passed out boy, whose breaths are long and peaceful, blowing a single strand hanging in his face up with each puff.

* * *

"And you're sure it was a pureblood?"

"Yes," Kaname grimaces. "It was my uncle's wife."

Kaien's eyes widen. "Hio Shizuka..."

"Yes," Kaname repeats with a grave expression. "She said it was because the Kiryuu's killed someone very close to her. A secret lover, I think. But I will not even begin to try to understand anything that madwoman says..." he trails off, ignoring Kaien's surprise at the use of the term. "When I found him, Zero, they were all already - " he stops, not bothering to continue what they both knew would follow.

Nodding sadly, Kaien asks, "And you - "

"Killed her?" Kaname interjects. "Yes."

Kaien sucks in a shaky inhale at his words, especially with the knowledge that they were leaving an eleven year old's mouth. He knew vampires, specifically purebloods, were raised in a more mature environment, and therefore, knew about things like murder or love affairs, but it still chilled his heart to hear.

"So then, Zero..." the ex-hunter muses.

"I think we can both agree to worry about that when we come to it."

* * *

_One year later_

Heart pounding rapidly in his chest, Zero advances forward, each step slowed slightly by the snow that attempts to swallow his feet, but it doesn't at all lower his spirits.

"Kaname-sama!" he cries excitedly, immediately latching himself onto the older boy's leg in a vice-like grip.

With a hearty laugh, Kaname, smiling widely, picks the boy up into his arms and makes his way towards the gaping door. "Zero, where's your coat?"

Grinning sheepishly, the boy stares into Kaname's narrowed wine-colored orbs, and mumbles, "I left it inside." The pureblood raises a single chastising eyebrow. "But, it's okay, Kaname-sama," Zero assures him, head shaking furiously. "I'm not even cold."

"That's not the point," Kaname admonishes, but his stern expression last only for a few seconds before crumbling under the small boy's innocently happy gaze, and he gives up with a laugh, carrying them through the doorway and shutting the door behind them with a click.

From his spot at the table, Kaien looks up, steaming tea pot in one hand and a small cake decorated with frilly white icing in the other. "Kaname-kun," he grins, taking in the heap of flesh in the pureblood's arms. "I see you and Zero have said your hello's."

Kaname chuckles good-naturedly. "Yes, and I see you're letting him go outside by himself now."

With an exasperated sigh, Kaien grumbles, "The word 'letting' implies that I actually have a say in the matter."

Kaname emits another loud laugh at that and looks pointedly at the boy in his arms. "Zero, you _are_ behaving for Cross-san, right?"

"Yes," Zero replies innocently, though Kaien's responding eye roll begs to differ.

Still smiling, Kaname sets the boy onto that very same couch he had the night of their meeting, and seats himself next to him.

"Kaname-sama!" Zero suddenly exclaims, eyes wide, and he all but throws himself onto the elder boy's lap. "I forgot to tell you!"

"Tell me what?" Kaname appeases, lips upturned in the corners fondly.

"Today is the day you saved me." The boy says, as if Kaname could have possibly forgotten. "So, happy birthday!"

It doesn't receive the desired response, and Zero finds himself blinking anxiously at the way Kaname's cheshire grin falls to a sad smile and the skin on his forhead crinkles. _Had he said something wrong?_ "No, Zero," he sighs with a head shake. "It's your birthday, not mine."

Zero's head tilts to the side, and he studies Kaname's rich mahogany eyes in bemused wonder.

"So, happy birthday."


	2. Crystal

**OH. MY. FLIPPIN'. GOSH.**

**I was **_**not ex**_**pecting any of those reactions AT ALL, and **_**boy**_**, was it an extremely pleasant surprise! So, thank you all so much for your reviews, alerts, favs, and such. Like seriously. THANK YOU. If I could send you all a gift basket, I would... but I'm broke... so sorry haha.**

**So, in tradition of the original VK, I did kinda odd time-jumpy things. I hope it doesn't make anything too confusing (I don't think it will, but just in case!)**

* * *

At age eleven, Zero could (almost) fully grasp what had happened to him_ that night_. Of course, that wasn't without help. A few months ago, Kaien, noticing Zero's sudden hesitance towards the outside that he use to run so freely into, decided to sit the unusually tame boy down for a much-needed talk. He'd explained to Zero, who had stared at him wide-eyed the entire time, that, although he couldn't remember, his parents were vampire hunters, and that he was a member of the famous Kiryuu clan.

He struggled through the gruesome facts, like that his entire family had unfortunately been murdered by a 'bad' vampire - for some odd reason, Kaien kept emphasizing the 'bad' part - and Zero's hand almost instantly drifted to the pale, numb scar at his neck. To Kaien's surprise, he'd asked if he was bitten. After a moment of torn deliberation, the man had answered yes.

Zero also asked if the 'bad' vampire was that pretty silver-haired angel he'd seen before he'd passed out. With a grimace, Kaien had answered yes to that too.

He asked if Kaname killed her.

Kaien never answered that.

He didn't need to.

Now, Zero was a generally happy child, and had little difficulty looking at situations from the upbeat 'glass half full' perspective. Typically, things like these - the death of his family, the loss of his memory, and then the memories he regrettably _hadn't _lost and that often were the main subject of his nightmares - they didn't phase him. He saw it this way: yes, his family had died, but if they hadn't, he would have never got to meet Kaname or (yes, _even_) Kaien; yes, he'd lost his memories, but hey, that meant he couldn't remember what he'd lost to begin with; yes, he had nightmares about _that night_, but he had good dreams about them, too, that often involved a certain savior of his.

But, on nights such as these - when he was home alone, by himself, unprotected - he couldn't help but think about _it_. The white canvas that filled his thoughts in vivid detail was splattered with an angry red, and a fucking half-full glass couldn't change that.

So when Cross had left a few hours ago with an urgent expression on his palid face, and had yanked his coat off the coat rack, merely giving Zero a quick, "I'll be right back," as a form of goodbye, Zero had suddenly felt overcome with a sense of dread.

There were some things that one did not notice until alone, like that the house creaked with each whistling breeze, or that the fire cackled loudly, maliciously, in the furnace, though one would only have to step a few feet away from it to be engulfed in complete darkness. The walls shifted, the flowered wallpaper's vines twisting and turning, creeping up to the ceiling in a slither.

The loudest sound that seemed to fill the room on these kind of nights, was Zero's own shallow breathing.

And it's here, when his mind is in its most vulnerable state, that he really sees it - not just pictures, or imagines, or recalls, but _sees_ that tell-tale red, and where his throat use to close up at the thought, it now twinges uncomfortably until it's scratchy like he's parched for water. But a glass of water won't help. It never helps.

It's only half full, after all.

When the door swings open and Cross steps through it, soaked to the bone in melted winter snow, Zero is at first relieved beyond belief, the strange almost-burning in his throat shoved to the back of his mind. Of course, then, when a girl follows in after, shivering just as he remembers he had, with teary eyes and a trembling frown, he feels differently.

She looks to be about his age, maybe younger, Zero guesses, though her small size might be slightly underestimating her years. Her hair, a deep chocolate brown to match her eyes, hangs limply around her face in tangled knots, matted and sticking to the skin of her jaw and neck... but by what? The dimly lit room does little to aid his eye-sweeping investigation.

"Zero," Kaien murmurs, and Zero's head snaps from the tiny girl to his adopted father. Kaien smiles sadly at this, and approaches the obviously startled and frightened boy, resting a single hand in his moonlight hair and ruffling it slightly. "This is Yuuki. She'll be staying with us from now on. Is that okay?"

Zero nods meakly. How could Kaien even expect another answer? A single look at the pitiful girl, and Zero's heart had squeezed painfully.

"Good," Kaien breathes. "Then, would you please show Yuuki to the bathroom? She's very cold and would love a nice, warm shower."

Zero nods again, and gingerly reaches out for Yuuki's hand. He can see the hesitance in her eyes as they flicker over his body, probably measuring his level of danger. Thinking back to his intial fear when arriving at a new home without an ounce of knowledge as to what was going on, and knowing Cross's tendency to be slightly overbearing, he does his best to sympathize. He remembers Kaname's welcomingly open and encouraging expression and tries to mimic it. He's sure the two faces are nowhere near the same, but that couldn't be helped. Kaname held a certain aura of elegant ease (if such a thing even existed) that Zero knew he could never even come close to.

With a bite of her lip, she takes his hand and allows him to lead her carefully up the stairs and down the hall into the small, periwinkle-blue tiled bathroom. She stands with uncertainty in the doorway until he ushers her in with a gentle hand and pads with bare feet to the matching tiles of the shower stall. He twists the leftmost golden handle towards himself, watching as multiple jets of water escape the high showerhead and beat loudly on the floor beneath it like gunshots, and sticks his hand under the streams to check the temperature. Zero makes the proper adjustments accordingly, hoping that she liked her showers as he liked his, before finally turning to the girl behind him, mouth open, and ready to give instructions, but -

She's stark naked, standing there innocently with tired, hooded brown orbs.

Breath catching in his throat, Zero slaps a hand over his mouth and spits out something about finding her some clothes before fleeing the room. He slams the door behind him.

Once in the safety of the hallway, he drops his hand, fingers clenched, and leans against the wall, sinking down and down until he's seated on the carpeted ground. He inhales and exhales in tiny gasps, and squeezes his eyes as tightly shut as he can manage, but in doing so, he achieves nothing. He can still see it - her pale, naked figure completely _covered _in a layer of dripping, thick color.

Of red.

Of blood.

* * *

It isn't until the next week that Kaien tells him what happened. That Yuuki, like him, lost her family to a 'bad' vampire.

There seemed to be a lot of _those_, these days.

That Yuuki, like him, though he (again) has no recollection of it, witnessed her parents' murder, and that it had 'affected her negatively'. Zero didn't bother pointing out that that was really the only way it could affect someone. Bitter words like that were often times trivial.

To his relief, Zero had also been told that the blood Yuuki had been covered in was not her own, and that she herself, hadn't been harmed. At the same time - he knew it was horrible, _but_ - Zero couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. _She _didn't have to bear the mark everyday of her life and pretend that it wasn't there. All she had was the memory, something one could swat away as easily as a pesky fly. Sure, it would return, but for that single second it was gone, life would be easy - would be normal. Zero, on the other hand, could never just push things away. No, the aching scar on his neck wouldn't allow him that.

Still, he was shamefully happy at the idea of having someone with him that knew how he felt. Sure, he had Kaien, and that was good, despite how much he pretended it wasn't. And he had Kaname, and that _certainly_ was good. Kaname himself was enough. But having Yuuki somehow healed his heart even more. Perhaps it was the wonderful notion of a sibling - a sister. Kaien was too old to even come close to one, and Kaname... Well, Kaname was Kaname and nothing about being with him ever really screamed 'brother'. He was more like a friend, a best friend even, or something like that.

He wasn't really sure.

But Yuuki? Yuuki emitted the very aura of sister. She laughed right along with Zero when he laughed, cried with Zero when he cried (not that he did that that often...), yelled at Zero when he infuriated her beyond belief, and yelled at him even more when he attempted to do the same.

Over the next few months, they'd formed a strong, unbreakable bond, and Zero could honestly say he loved the girl, temper tantrums and all. And, at the news that Kaname would soon be coming to visit them to bring information regarding the school Cross was in the process of creating - one that Kaien would always excitedly inform Yuuki and Zero that they would be attending on their fifteenth birthdays, regardless of whether it was relevant to the conversation - pleased Zero to no end. He hadn't seen his savior in almost a year, and the memory of those kind, wine-colored orbs made his heat jump exuberantly.

He was happy for Yuuki as well. The girl needed another friend, someone besides himself, and he had no doubt that she'd love Kaname. Who wouldn't?

When Cross had opened the door and cheerfully greeted his guest with a smile, and Zero had heard the equally pleasant, though far less peppy, voice of Kaname, he had become overjoyed, and nearly jumped right out of his seat at the dinner table like he use to always do as soon as he saw the older boy as a child, but Kaien's command to 'stay put' glued him to his chair, and he instead simply grinned encouragingly at Yuuki in excitement.

"Kaname-senpai," he smiled the second the boy turned the corner and entered the dining room. (He'd dropped the 'sama' years ago upon Kaname's request, but had obstinately tagged on the 'senpai' in its place, refusing to refer to the boy that had saved his life so casually.)

"Zero," Kaname said warmly, wine-colored orbs twinkling under the chandelier's lights. He looked to the girl seated across the table from Zero, and who had a confused and guarded expression on her delicate face. "And you must be Yuuki."

Zero turns to Yuuki with his smile still beaming at full force until he sees the flash of fear the crosses her chocolate eyes, and then the trembling frown that settles on her tiny, pink lips.

"_Vampire,_" she gasps out, and Zero flinches at her tone. Though they had never exchanged words on the night of their meeting, he's sure that if they had, she would have sounded something like _this_. Petrified.

She hops from her seat, stumbling in her haste, and rushes to Zero's side. Her small hand clutches onto the sleeves of his shirt, tugging the material to her face like a security blanket, and no doubt stretching out the article of clothing to the point of being unwearable. From the corner of his eye, he notes that Kaien enters the room, an alarmed look decorating his features.

"No, Yuuki," Zero corrects, attempting to remove her death grip from his shirt, but she doesn't let up. As a matter of fact, he's pretty sure he feels her grip tighten. "Kaname-senpai's not a vampire. He's - " Turning back to face said boy, Zero freezes midsentence.

He'd suspected Kaname to be wearing a mask of shock, or amusement, or something that would be clear proof that Yuuki's words weren't true, but instead, his dark eyes were narrowed and his lips were pressed tightly together.

He wasn't the least bit startled by the accusation, nor was he denying it.

"Kaname-senpai," Zero breathes pleadingly, voice cracking, and he rises from his seat, his knees trembling. His palms begin moisten with a cold sweat. His stomach twists, but not like it had before - not in _excitement_. "Tell Yuuki. Tell her she's wrong."

Kaname takes a step towards the siblings, his mouth turning up in the corners to form a sad smile. "Zero," he sighs.

He wasn't denying it. _He wasn't freakin' denying it._

In a moment of realization and sheer panic, Zero's hand slaps the table with a thud, grabbing for the first metal thing he can reach, and raises it in front of him. The steak knife flashes with the quick motion, and the very base of its seratted end cuts into his palm, calling forth that detested metallic smell of blood. Kaname's eyes flash to a sharp red before he can extinguish the color with a blink, nd there's no way in hell that Zero misses _that_.

And, _oh god._

"Don't," Zero commands shakily. "Don't come any closer, _vampire_."

Kaname regards him for a moment with a blank, lifeless gaze, as if the words were just that - _words - _before he finally relents and lets out a bitter and pained chuckle. "Okay, Zero. I won't. Just," he looks to Zero's hand worriedly, watching as crimson red trickles out from his fist. "Put the knife down, okay? You're hurting yourself."

In spite of the vampire, Zero grips the knife tighter, causing another stream to leak from his ivory skin.

"Zero," Kaien immediately intervenes, pushing past Kaname, and grabs Zero's wrist, unlocking his clenched hand. He plucks away the knife measuredly before setting it on the table, not at all caring that it was staining the cream tablecloth. "Take Yuuki to her room and stay there. You can eat dinner later." He fixes Zero with a hard and stern gaze, one that the boy had never seen before, that just dares him to try and challenge his order.

He doesn't think he's ever seen Kaien so serious in his entire life.

Frowning reluctantly, Zero turns and drags Yuuki after him, throwing the _vampire_ one last fearful glance before leaving the room and stomping up the staircase.

When he is gone, Kaien emits a tired sigh, and shakes his head disappointedly. "I guess we'll have to discuss the Academy's plans in the kitchen. This room's a mess," he looks warily at the bloodied knife on the table, and the splatters of it painting the hardwood flooring.

The pureblood supplying no response, Kaien turns around dubiously.

"Kaname-kun?"

The vampire simply stands there, staring at the doorway where Zero's retreating figure had just occupied, hands resting limply at his sides and face smoothed of all emotion.

With a sympathetic smile, Kaien whispers reassuringly, "He'll get over it, Kaname-kun. I'll talk to him and make him understand. He's just young and he doesn't quite know how these things work yet, but he will. Trust me."

Kaname glances over to the other man calmly. "I'm fine."

The cold way he says it tells Kaien otherwise.

* * *

Later that night, Kaien does as he promised - he goes to Yuuki's room, feeling immensely guilty whe he sees the girl already asleep, and on an empty stomach, no less. Zero, however, is far from asleep, tucked into the very corner of the room, hands clutching tiredly at his over- grown silver bangs .

Kaien clears his throat.

With a startled jump, Zero's head snaps up to reveal paling skin and bloodshot eyes. "Is he gone?" Zero croaks out.

"Yes," Kaien says placidly, and then flicks his gaze over to Yuuki pointedly. "Perhaps we should have this discussion elsewhere. How about over dinner?"

Zero grimaces, and snaps, "I'm not hungry."

"Well I am," Kaien states closingly. "So come here." Zero's eyebrows raise. "That's _not _a request, Zero."

Grumbling, the boy struggles his way onto his feet and follows Kaien out the door, closing it behind himself with a click, and stomps down the stairs.

Once in the kitchen, Cross takes a teapot out of the cupboard with one hand, and two tiny teacups with the other, balancing one on his pointer finger and one on his pinky.

Zero just stands there, awkward and twitching.

"Here," Kaien says, handing Zero the square tea kettle. "Fill this with water and set it on the stove."

Zero, after a steady stream of rumbling complaints, does as he's told.

Kaien continues ordering him to fetch ingredients from the fridge and cupboard, until he's settled happily on the couch with a steaming cup of tea in his hands, and a plate of cookies at his feet, that, despite being 'not hungry', Zero manages to eat more than half of, and downs two cups of the hot liquid, for that matter. And it's then, with a full stomach, that he asks:

"So, what did you want to talk about?" The way he says it is filled with genuine curiousity, his mood no longer sour, and Kaien grins knowingly behind his drink, wondering if he'd perhaps just fed Zero before Kaname's visit, whether this entire dilemma would have even occured to begin with. Nearly-teenage boys were so moody when they were hungry.

"Hmm?" Cross hums innocently, sipping lazily.

Zero blinks. "Talk. Didn't you want to talk about something?"

"Oh, that," Kaien responds flippantly. "I suppose so."

_"Okay..."_

Smiling, Kaien places his emptied cup on the coffee table with a click, right beside the tray of nearly finished cookies, and turns to face the waiting Zero. "It's a story, so bear with me." He laughs at Zero's scowl before starting. "A few years ago, there was a boy about your age, and just like you and Yuuki, he had a warm, loving family who cared for him very much."

"This sounds like one of those stupid bedtime fairytales you tell Yuuki," Zero interrupts with a look of distaste.

"I said," Kaien smirks, "bear with me." Zero sighs in defeat and nods him onward. "But one night, a vampire snuck into his home and killed his entire family. He'd barely managed to escape, and even though he was happy to live, he felt guilty that his mother and father hadn't. After that night, as a matter of fact, he mainly blamed himself for what happened."

Zero sucked in quick breath at the sudden turn the 'fairytale' had taken, and how Kaien had wasted no time getting to it.

"Now, Zero. That vampire sounds awfully mean, doesn't he?"

"I'm not four," Zero deflected, though the attempted disgruntled tone does little to hide how he's suddenly very interested in the carpet.

"Doesn't he?" Kaien repeats, eyeing Zero sternly until he finally concedes with a nod. "And that boy who lost his family, is he mean?"

Zero's forehead crinkles and he snorts. "Of course not."

"Okay," Kaien grins. "Well, that very same boy moved many times after that. He lived with mostly pleasant families, and aquired quite a few friends. He was happy for the most part. But, you see, it was very hard for him still - even when he was happy, he was never completely so, because he always had that guilt on his shoulders. He still felt responsible for his family's death, and he was always worried that others did too." Head shaking, Kaien looks up and stares into space, eyes not really fixing on any certain point, just peering at anything and everything. "It was silly for him think that, of course, but he didn't know that then. How was he supposed to? He didn't really have anyone to talk about it to and tell him otherwise. So he continued to feel that way." He returns his gaze to Zero. "Now, is that boy bad?"

"No," Zero answers confidently and with an irritated expression, impatiently waving Kaien to continue.

The ex-hunter laughs, pleased. "Alright. Well this boy was out walking one night - I believe he was on his way to visit an old friend of his - " for some reason unknown to Zero, the man smiles fondly at this, " - and stumbled upon a boy who was lying in the snow. Like him, the child had also lost his family to a 'bad' vampire - "

Zero's breath caught in his throat, and his pulse raced.

He knew this story. He knew how it would end. _Lying in the snow. Lost his family. Bad vampire._ He rubbed his suddenly sweaty palms together nervously.

_Red._

" - And the second he saw that boy, he knew he'd been wrong all along. He knew his parents' death couldn't possibly be his fault, because there was absolutely no way that this boy was responsible for his, either. After that day, that boy became very, very important to him - not only serving as a clear representation of his own innocence, but also as a dear friend." Kaien stops and takes in Zero's frazzled appearance. "Now, tell me, Zero," he whispers softly. Sweetly. "Is this boy bad?"

"But he's a vampire!" Zero exclaims with fiery eyes.

Kaien shakes his head, face still as serene as it was before Zero's outburst. "Does it matter?"

Zero's mouth opens, and he makes to shout again, but the words refuse to leave his tongue, and he sinks back helplessly into the couch, silent as death itself.

_Did it matter?_ If what Cross said was true then maybe...

_Maybe it didn't_.

Blinking back a sheen of tears, he closes his eyes and tries to slow his breathing.

After a moment of quiet, he speaks.

"I have to apologize. I have to see him, and - " his voice cracks and he looks down, face red with shame. "I need to."

Frowning, Kaien states matter-of-factly, "You can't."

Zero looks to him, shocked. "But why - "

"He's home, Zero. He wanted to come here and say goodbye because he wouldn't be seeing you in a while - not until the end of next summer when school at the Academy starts. He's gone."

"Oh," Zero mumbles. "Oh."

* * *

_One year later_

"Kaname-sama," Takuma called from outside the pureblood's closed door. Turning from his clothing strewn across his bed that waited anxiously to be packed into his closet before the next night - when school would start - Kaname walked slowly to his door and twisted the knob, meeting the startling green of the blonde noble's curious and amused gaze.

"Yes?" Kaname asks patiently.

Takuma grins oddly, as if what he was about to stay was foreign even to himself. "There's some kid passed out on the staircase."

* * *

When Zero opens his eyes, he's no longer seated at the Moon dorm's elegant staircase, now sprawled out, all limbs, across Kaien's brown and crinkly, leather sofa. "I fell asleep," he muses aloud with a disappointed frown, and drops his lifted head back against the cushioned loveseat. He'd waited an entire year for this, and he still managed to fuck it up.

"Yes, and in the home of several hungry vampires at that," a musical voice murmurs softly.

Zero's body snaps up like a rubber band and his eyes stumble their way around the living room until they're meeting another pair of wine-colored ones. "Kaname-senpai," he breathes.

_Kaname. Here. Kaname was here. _Zero's heart skips a beat - more like five actually, and he almost gasps out his shock.

"Hello, Zero," Kaname responds calmly, face trained into an expression of good-nature. "And how are you?"

He's seated in the plush chair opposite Zero, with his legs crossed formally, and his posture as stiff as it was relaxed, if such an assessment made any ounce of sense at all. His face was much more harshly shaped than it had been a year ago, now all pronounced lines and august angles. It's certainly not the face of a typical eighteen year old boy. But then again, Kaname was hardly typical. Perhaps vampires matured faster?

_Coward, _his brain screams. _Stop stalling._

Right. Zero swallows. It was now or never.

"Horrible," and Kaname's eyebrows raise at that. "I'm a horrible excuse for a person."

The vampire's head shakes in bewilderment. "Why - "

"I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. Y'know, when I..." he picks the next few phrases carefully, "found out about your, err, situation."

"About my being a vampire?" Kaname clarifies, face still twisted.

"Yes," Zero responds, blundering in his anxiety. "That. I shouldn't have acted that way, especially after all that you'd done for me. I was just being stupid because I was scared. It was immature and I feel really," he gives a pained laugh, "Really bad about it. It was wrong, and I'm - god, I'm so sorry." His voice cracks on the last word and to his horror, he feels a single drop of liquid roll of his chin and stain the fabric of his pants. And the traitor tear hadn't come without reinforcements - they were _many_ of his comrades wetting his cheeks, and he doesn't even bother trying to swipe them away with the back of his hand in embarrassment because he had no doubt that they had already been noticed long ago. Way before even he had, probably.

Kaname's breath hitches, and the mask of polite indifference falls to the ground uselessly. Instead, in its place, a smile begins to form. Rising silently and providing the crying boy with absolutely no warnings of his actions, Kaname approaches Zero's shaking form and settles down beside him. Just as he did years ago, he tucks the boy securely under his arm and rests his head atop his mop of silvery stands.

"Stop," he orders, and Zero immediately does, peeking up hesitantly through thick lashes, trying to catch a glimpse of Kaname's eyes. They were always a tell-tale sign of how he really felt.

_Windows to the soul_, Zero thought for one completely ridiculous and cliche moment.

Pulling away slightly, not enough for Kaname's encircling arm to fall, but just enough for him to be able to speak to the vampire face to face, Zero notes with an overwhelming feeling of relief that those rich wine-colored orbs are warm and soft.

"It's okay," Kaname murmurs, smiling gently. "I should have told you sooner, but... well," he chuckles, "Frankly, I was afraid something like... _what happened..._ would happen." He laughs again. "But I guess some things are simply imminent."

Zero's brow furrows. "Imminent?"

Grinning, Kaname licks his lip and selects a more twelve-year-old-friendly word. "Unavoidable."

"Oh."

Kaname nods. "But, I suppose that if _this_ is the outcome, I could care less about any of _that_."

And _'this',_ Zero understood.

There were many other things they would have to talk about. Some unpleasant topics, like how Kaname was a pureblood, and what that even meant. Some very pleasant, like his friends, Takuma and Aidou and such. Like how, since he was attending Cross Academy, they were merely a walking distance apart.

But for now, Kaname didn't have the heart to bring any of it up.

"I think you've gotten taller," he says instead.

* * *

"Hey, who ate that brat on the stairs? I thought I called dibs."

Expecting the laughter of his fellow classmates, Aidou chuckles with a smirk at his joke and reclines farther back into his chair. However, when he realizes that he is, in fact, the only one displaying his amusement, he falters, the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly pricking to full attention, and a tiny shiver races up his spine.

Without warning, fingers are curling angrily around his shirt collar and he's lifted straight out of his chair, his face an inch away from Kaname's very own, dangerously calm one.

"No one touches him, are we clear?" The words come out as hot puffs of air on Aidou's lips and he nods with wide eyes. He's dropped haphazardly, no doubt on purpose, back into his seat with an 'ummph', and he watches in surprise as Kaname retreats from the room and up the stairs. Aidou can't help thinking that it seemed fairly typical that, not even a day in, he would be the first to anger the pureblood. However, he had not predicted such anger to be over a _boy_, and a _human _one, no less.

It was incredibly _odd_, and after a moment of tensed and incredulous silence, Kain snorts.

"Crystal."

* * *

**Because this story is classified as being in the "Romance/Friendship" genre, I really didn't want to dive too deep into the whole "wahh, I'm a bad friend... wahh Kaname's a vampire" angst, so I know it was kinda iffy to go from "I have to apologize" to a year later, "I'm sorry", but I wanted to end the chapter on a light note. Plus, I really want to get to the "present day" stuff. If it's too big of a jump, I can go back and write out a filler chapter, but I doubt anyone wants that haha!**

**Anyslut, please review! It kinda makes up for the fact that I wasted like three hours of my life typing and editing this!**


	3. Harmless

**Hello, darlings! **

**Just to clear up some confusion: Kaien's house is on Cross Academy's school grounds, just like in the original VK. So, when the school finally opened, Zero was able to visit Kaname. **

**Thanks to everyone for your reviews! I'm a feedback whore, so they are greatly appreciated. **

**(BTW, this chapter takes place three years later! "What, ANOTHER FLIPPIN' TIME JUMP?" I'm sorry! But I'm trying to follow the format of the original VK!)**

* * *

Orignally, Zero was quite pleased, although he'd never admit to it, with the notion of being a prefect. Not only did it mean that Zero would be granted great responsibilities, but also great privileges, like getting to leave class fifteen minutes earlier everyday to man the gate... And, well frankly, he liked telling people what to do.

Yuuki was delighted by the offered role as well, but Zero suspected that had more to do with her crush on a certain pureblood. (Somewhere between the heated dinner disaster that had taken place fours years ago and her first day in high school, she'd either had a conversation with Kaien that was similar to his and Zero's, or had simply gotten over her initial fear of the vampire.) Girls were so flighty.

It annoyed him to no end.

Had it just been Yuuki so _captivated_ with Kaname's, err, - _beauty?_ - (at fifteen, thinking of the male in such a way made Zero very uncomfortable) he thinks he wouldn't mind as much. After all, it was Yuuki, his sister. He _had_ to love her. But every single female member of the Day - and he suspected Night - class?

Fucking ridiculous, especially when that ridiculousness played over into his duty as prefect - a duty he was beginning to detest with a fiery passion.

"Get back!" Zero yelled for what he hoped - but severely doubted - would be the last time. Arms outstretched, he pushed against the many hands clawing at his shoulders and sides that attempted to reach past his unmoving form. And jeez, why did girls keep their nails so long, anyway? All doing so seemed to achieve was either tearing the complete shit out of Zero's back, or breaking and resulting in a ten minute session of obnoxious whining.

Opposite him and mimicking his very same position while holding back her own group of raging, hormonal girls, was Yuuki, whose face was squinched together in an expression of exertion that made Zero kind of feel bad for her (_kind of_). This task proved to be much harder on her body than his, considering he had at least twenty pounds on the girl, if not thirty.

"Stop pushing," she commanded, eyes narrowed and teeth clenched, sweat dripping off her brow and onto the pavement beneath her. "And do as he said!"

Zero exhaled loudly. Sometimes, he didn't even know why Yuuki tried. (Or either of them, for that matter.) The girl was about as threatening as a kitten, and Zero, who liked to think himself _very_ _threatening_, was plagued by a different weakness. For some odd reason, his naturally bitter attitude, his snarky insults, his complete indifference - girls loved it, or at least, the freaky, far too squeaky Day class girls did. Granted, it was nowhere near their adoration of the male members of the Night class, but it was still enough to undermine his authority.

So basically, they were the dream team.

"Fuck," Zero hissed under his breath, 'accidently' knocking his elbow into someone's nose. "That's fine, stupid vampires. Just take your fucking time, why don'tcha?"

Surprisingly, as if just to spite him, the gates push open with a click, and just as suddenly, the entire area erupts in a fit of high-pitched cheers and squeals, the usual, "Kyah~!"s and proclamations of eternal love and devotion filling the warm, autumn air. It all makes Zero feel the need to sink his teeth grittingly into his lip and draw out the disgusting metallic taste of crimson blood that thickly coats his tongue, just to keep himself from smacking them upside the head.

Stupid girls.

As the happy calls escalate, Zero turns to face the gate once again, and in shock, realizes that the Night class is already spewing from out and between the walls, each with a regal posture that made it appear as if they were gliding rather than walking, and all, with the exception of Aidou, looking indifferently towards the sea of screaming fangirls.

"Good morning, ladies!" he exclaims, and Zero rolls his eyes, because _here he goes again_. It was the same thing every day, but still, the Day class girls ate it up like hungry wolves. "You're all simply adorable today. Especially you - " his lips twirk up in the corners with a purred, "Yuuki-chan."

"Idol-sen - err, Aidou-senpai," she breathes, cheeks flushing to soft pink, and Zero resists the urge to gag.

"Yuuki," he calls out instead, face stern, "Pay attention."

She blinks away from Aidou's twinkling blue eyes in a daze, and then, with a cry of shock, spots a girl, that Zero didn't know the name of and hardly gave a fuck that he didn't, a mere few feet away, creeping her way slowly towards the line of vampires.

"Mei-chan!" Yuuki admonishes, "Get back!"

The girl immediately tenses once caught, and sinks back to her wide-eyed and giggling friends with a sour pout.

Aidou, who had been surveying the exchange with a grin, waves to Zero, with wiggling, condescending fingers. "Kiryuu-kun, looking as disagreeable as always."

Zero's twitch with the desire to flash an obscene hand gesture, and he would too, if it weren't for the fact that he just knew Yuuki would tell on him. Of course, Kaien's anger wasn't all that bad, and it would certainly be worth it...

Nah. _Wouldn't wanna give the fucker the satisfaction. _

Instead, they lock eyes, Zero's a burning lilac that practically swallows the pupil whole, and Aidou's a challenging, smarmy ice-blue. The air between them sizzles in a current of sparking cracks, and a brief hush falls over the doe-eyed Day class students, each biting their lips in anticipation, and tugging at the ends of their sleeves.

Zero takes a small step forward, and Aidou's mouth curls into a self-pleased smirk, no doubt waiting for the prefect to snap. The silver-haired boy's eyes narrow and his fists clench in a moment of pure and heady deliberation -

"Tch," and then he's stepping back with a completely relaxed posture, amethyst orbs now shining with boredom, and nose crinkled in candid distaste.

The blonde noble emits a cry of outrage and makes to pounce, but before he can, thankfully, his fire-haired cousin is grabbing onto the back of his shirt collar with an exasperated sigh, head shaking when the smaller vampire throws overanimated punches in response. ("Did you hear him, Akatsuki? Trying to come off all cool, and making a complete fool of me?" "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shut your whining.") He practically has to drag Aidou away from the male prefect's raised eyebrows kicking and screaming.

Grinning crookedly at this, Zero emits a self-satisfied snort, feeling an overwhelming surge of pride from succeeding in knocking that pompous vampire down yet another peg. He could cross that off his check-list for the day.

"Zero," a velvety voice chuckles, interrupting his hidden mental celebration, and Zero's head snaps to his right, turning to face the wine-colored globes he knew well enough to know that they'd be narrowed and light with humor. "I wish you wouldn't tease Hanabusa so. It renders him fairly unbearable for the next few hours."

Chin up, Zero crosses his arms over his chest, not the least bit worried about the Day class students any longer - half of them had fallen over with a sigh at Zero's 'sexy' (or so they called it), devil-may-care display, whispering out foolish things like, 'Ah, Kiryuu-kun's so brave!' that made him want to bend over and empty his stomach.

"Well, if he didn't spend so much time trying to make my job difficult..." he snubs obstinately, secretly relishing Kaname's implicit disapproval with an obscured smile. "Now get to class, Kaname." - (adding the 'senpai' made him feel like an air-headed school girl) - "Even the President of the Night class has to abide by the rules."

Zero would never say this to the pureblood's face, though something told him that Kaname might already know anyway, but ordering Kaname about sent an electrifying jolt down his spine, and made his stomach flip with thrill. It was an indescribable, and very embarrassing, guilty pleasure of his, and whatever it was, he knew it wouldn't lead to anything good. But, still high off of adrenaline, he could care less.

Kaname, in the same gracious mood he almost always appeared to be in when in the presence of Zero, with a knowing, and particularly smoldering smile that knocks over the remaining conscious fangirls, simply continues at a leisurely pace behind the moving group of Night class students, and only when he's a good few feet away does he turn, without stopping, and chuckles over his shoulder, "So scary, Mr. Disciplinary Committee."

A moment of silence until -

"Kyah~!" And each and every suddenly miraculously healed girl is gushing about their nonexistant encounter with not only their beloved 'Idol-senpai', but also the charming, yet dark and mysterious Kaname Kuran. And Zero was going to play nice and let them do it - he really was. But then, with his overly-sensitive ears, he picks up the single phrase 'sexual tension' paired not-so-innocently with his name, and he knows there's no way in hell he's going to wait for them to finish the rest of the thought -

"Shuddup, and go back to your dorms already!"

* * *

"You're gonna get attacked one of these days - you know that, right?"

Zero looks up casually from the large expanse of dark grass and leafy trees that was Cross Academy's campus grounds, which was, might he add, _large _indeed and very hard to keep completely under a watchful eye. Luckily, they had four eyes in total, although they tended to group together despite the hazard. To the minds of two fifteen year olds, the desire to avoid boredom outweighed the safety of the Day class by many. So, the tall oak tree placed conveniently close to the Academy's windows, but was still far out enough for the pathway from the Sun dorms to be in fairly clear view, had been the perfect solution to balance their immaturity and duties.

"By who? _Aidou_?" It's said with a half-assed, cocky smirk. "He's harmless."

Yuuki's squints at her adopted brother's brash frivolousness with genuine worry. "He's a _vampire_."

Zero nods, flashing his pearly teeth with a chesire grin. "A vampire who's completely and utterly enamored with Kaname, and couldn't touch me even if he wanted to," he chooses to ignore Yuuki's overexaggerated eye roll. "Which would be the reason why, when it's come down to the battlefield, his words have always been his weapon of choice, and incidentally, the reason why he loses," the silver-haired teen laughs.

"Zero!" she exclaims, chocolate orbs circled by widened white, "Don't you understand? He's playing you - _trying _to provoke you. He knows that if it's _you_ that starts something, he has an excuse - "

"Which _won't _happen."

" - If you make the first move, it'll be fair game - it'll be self-defense, and even Kaname-senpai can't change that."

Zero mulls the thing over for as long as he runs his tongue over his teeth. "I think you're overestimating Aidou's abilities."

"And I think you're _underestimating_ them," Yuuki proclaims calmly, but with a tone hinting at her desperateness.

Zero sucks on the inside of his cheek at that, emitting a rather inelegant squelch that makes Yuuki shudder in disgust, and then he leans forward onto the branch they're sitting on, resting his weight onto his hands so that he is able to swing his dangling legs freely. "Well," he muses after a moment of deliberation. "At least I'll have you to look after me. After all," his stoic features once again shift into an expression of teasing amusement, "You handled Aidou's 'abilities' _so well_ earlier. What was your cool-headed defense again? 'Oh, Idol-senpai!'" he sighs mockingly. "Jeez, Yuuki. You're _ruthless_."

The girl's cheeks heat to an angry pink and she immediately snaps, "I don't sound like that!" She didn't bother to protest about the spoken content of his immitation, because _that_ was spot-on.

Zero chuckles, completely disregarding her irritated comment, and continues with a smile. "See, and here I thought it was Kaname that possessed the honor of your heart, but you've seemed to take a liking to Aidou recently." He shifts towards her, precariously moving all his weight to one leg and an awkwardly placed hand. "So who is it, Yuuki?" he whispers with the tenacity of a teenage girl questing for the latest juicy gossip. "The charming and peppy 'Idol-senpai' or the brooding and mysterious 'Kaname-senpai'? Or, perhaps both?"

He takes little pleasure in how he seems to be _just a fucking natural_ when it came to Day class girl impressions.

"Stop it, Zero! Stop it right this instant!" she demands, face aflame, turning an impossible shade redder when he simply lets out a snort in response. "I mean it," she warns, and brings her palm back, releasing the coiled tension only when she believes it to have reached its max potential.

The force of the slap is hard - harder than even she had predicted - and is more than enough to startle Zero into keening back upon impact. The rest, however, was a misfortunate coincidence. His slipping from the thick branch was purely the result of his carelessness, fueled further by Yuuki's surprising strengh, and there's not much either of them can do to avoid it. Still, it doesn't stop Yuuki, who immediately catches her great mistake, and reaches out helplessly where his falling form had been a mere second ago. Her fingertips meet empty air.

"Zero!" she cries out, eyes wide and glistening with acute fear. The drop was far - far enough to break a bone, no doubt. Far enough to snap a spine like a measly twig if landed on _just right_.

It had taken them a little less than ten minutes to climb, and it took less than three seconds for the startled Zero to hit the ground with a loud thud.

Her futile efforts are quickly forgotten, and her trembling hand is brought to her mouth to contain her gasp.

Pulse racing, the boy glances up through milky lilac orbs, vision blurred. They meet eyes.

"Zero..." Yuuki trails off, head shaking in complete shock.

He rises from his planted and agile crouch, knees as steady as his heart wasn't - fluttering like a hummingbird's wings. Blinking, the silver-haired prefect peeks down at his perfectly unharmed body in disbelief, before sweeping his gaze up the looming tree, as if to insure that the length was really that - looming - and finally settling on Yuuki's teary, chocolate brown irises. In less than a second, the world around him is sharp, and, simply from the corner of his eye, he can see the vivid colors of green, knowing full well that they _should _be darkened by the night sky - that the moon's light shouldn't be enough. He can hear the hoot of an owl, as if it was an inch away from his ear, he can hear -

"Zero," the brunette squeaks. "Zero, you should be - "

"I know."

She shakes her head furiously, still processing the scene before her. "But only - "

"Fuck, Yuuki - _I know_."

"Zero - "

He brings his finger to his lips, parting them slowly to whisper a soft, 'shhh'. Noting her confused glance, he inclines his head to the right with a flick of the neck, and waves her down.

She turns, alert, and studies the dark grass in the area Zero was gesturing to. "I don't see - " A movement. It's small, but still definitely there. A tiny hushed giggle sounds blaringly over the soft rustling of leaves. Nodding, the girl shuffles to the base of the branch, and hooks her legs around the truck, slowly but surely making her way down the large tree. (Something told her she wouldn't be able to pull off Zero's miraculous save as well as he had.)

The two prefects hurried, more so than usual, and Yuuki found herself having to practically skip just to keep up with her brother's long-legged strides. If Zero noticed this, he didn't at all care enough to make any accomodations.

They reached the suspected area in no time, a tiny clearing bare of trees a few yards away from the Academy's fountain, and for that, Yuuki was thankful. However, she could have done without the sheen of sweat forming at her brow.

"And just where the hell do you three think you're going?"

Zero's voice pierces the quiet air, ringing loudly and viciously over Yuuki's panting huffs for oxygen. Perhaps she should take up running... _Later_, she assures her wandering mind.

In tandem, the three, creeping Day class girls jump, all spinning around anxiously on their heels with guilty, wide-eyed expressions.

The bravest one, with a face Zero definitely recognizes - meaning she'd been caught like _this _before - steps forward, her jet black bangs falling in tiny chops on her forhead. "We were just - "

"Returning to your rooms?" Zero supplies with a single raised eyebrow.

Each girl nods furiously. Unconvincingly.

"Good," Zero smiles, and the twinkling in their eyes is palpable -

"Oh, Kiryuu-kun!" the one with blonde hair slicked back into a high ponytail cries. "You're so kind! Thank you, thank you, thank you..." the other two join in the mantra with hopeful expressions.

- "Well, then I'm sure you wouldn't mind stopping at the Chairman's office on the way."

The sentiments of gratitude cut off as the weight of his words drops heavily onto their shoulders like a dumbbell.

"I knew it was too good to be true," the brave one grumbles.

Yuuki turns from the pitiful display with an exasperated sigh, instead choosing to focus on Zero, recalling once again that, not too long ago, he was landing with impossible grace onto the wet-with-dew grass - he was falling off an at least twenty-foot high tree completely unscathed. It wasn't normal. _It just wasn't normal_.

"C'mon, Kiryuu-kun, don't you think you could lay off the poor girls a bit? They're just curious, after all."

Like a speeding bullet, Zero and Yuuki are facing the voice, ignoring the ridiculous fangirl cheers that erupt from the three Day class members behind them.

"Ido - Aidou-senpai," Yuuki looks over the blue-eyed blonde's shoulder with a frown, "Kain-senpai... Neither of you should be out of class."

Aidou grins wickedly, hands folding behind his head. "But that old classroom is so stuffy, and the instructor rambles on and on - it's simply a bore. You understand, don't you, Yuuki-chan?"

Yuuki - unable to help herself - nods along, distracted, shifting uncomfortably under Aidou's unwavering ice-blue gaze. With a single reprimanding glare from her scowling and uncharacteristically silent partner, she remembers herself. "That - that may be true, Aidou- senpai, but... well, it's still - err - very much against school rules, and just because you're in the Night class, it doesn't mean that you get, umm, special treatment."

Pouting with full, pink lips, Aidou steps closer to the struggling girl. "I don't want special treatment, Yuuki-chan. I _promise_. Akatsuki and I," he points innocently at his cousin who immediately rolls his eyes in calm protest and attempts to detach himself from the situation altogether in a way that clearly spoke 'I'm babysitting', "Just wanted to see where that smell was coming from."

Yuuki's brow furrows. "What smell?"

"Blood," he smiles, flicking his tongue along the outer edge of his lip, and the bystanding girls repeat the word with bewilderment. Zero and Yuuki's shoulders tense. "And it's coming from - " he closes his eyelids languidly and inhales deeply, nostrils flaring. The blonde noble's eyes open with a sudden snap, and he releases a deliciously amused chuckle, "Kiryuu-kun."

Almost instantly, Zero makes to argue, mouth opening, and top lip curling into a snarl, but then, for the first time, he feels it. The stinging. Bemused, he peers down at his burning palm, and sure enough, it's covered in a multitude of shallow scratches, each oozing crimson that pools into the skin's wrinkled crevices. Thinking back, Zero can almost recall when and where the cuts happened - he was falling back, had lost his grip, and, in a moment of reflex, had grabbed onto the branch in attempt to catch himself, but slipped instead...

And the rest was history.

Feeling incredibly stupid and entirely to blame, Zero smiles bitterly, and wipes his hand against the leg of his pants, flinching slightly when the fabric scrapes roughly against the wounds.

"Looks painful," Aidou states offhandedly, taking another step forward, only this time, it's towards Zero. "I know we've had our differences before, Kiryuu-kun," he's purring, and Zero decides he doesn't at all like the twisted glint in his narrowed electric blue orbs, "But what do you say we let bygones be bygones, and you allow me clean it for you. It's the least I can do, after all."

Zero's jaw clenches tightly. "It sounds like you're looking to be made an idiot of again, _vampire_," he hisses.

Both Aidou's and Kain's eyes widen at that, and Zero hears several intakes of breath - the word 'vampire' coloring all of them.

Fuck. He hadn't meant to say that.

"Well," Aidou laughs in surprised pleasure. "It looks like the cat's out of the bag." A smirk. "Then I guess there's really nothing stopping me from doing _this_ - "

He's lunging at Zero in a hearbeat, had Zero's not skipped in fear, of course, anda few startled cries are all that sounds to cover up Kain's voiced protest. Or at least, that was what Aidou's main exuse would be later - _he couldn't hear_. At the threat, Zero watches as his non-injured hand immediately shoots out, aiming for it to function as a shield, and grunts in pain when it's halted by its wrist in a suffocating grip. His other hand follows it and quickly suffers the same fate.

Groaning in frustration, he tries to step back, to raise his foot, _to do anything_, but it's to no avail. He's stuck, frozen in place, and he has no idea why.

Aidou answers his confused panic with a self-satisfied snort. "Can't move, can you?"

Zero grits his teeth and snarls, snapping his shoulders forward, trying to jostle either arm out of the vampire's hold.

"Look down," Aidou commands eagerly, and though Zero doesn't want to give him the satisfaction, he cannot resist.

His previous assessment was startlingly accurate. From about his knee and down, his legs were literally frozen to the ground by a jagged block of ice. It was strange that he hadn't noticed earlier, considering how _icy cold _it felt now. Very cold, burning like he was almost on fire.

"If I lose a toe because of this, I'm gonna fucking kill you," Zero growls to the blonde, giving his arms one last useless jerk.

"Oh, are you?" Aidou asks with a condescending grin. "And might I inquire how?" He doesn't wait for an answer. "Kiryuu-kun, I don't think you've grasped the gravity of this situation just yet. Can you not see? Do you not understand - " with that, he pulls Zero's injured hand up to his parted lips, allowing the whisper of his words to blow out onto the wounded skin in puffs. " - how _easily _it would be for me to taste your blood." To prove his point, the vampire flicks his tongue out teasingly over one of the leaking scrapes, catching a bead of red with a moan of appreciation. Zero grimaces in disgust. "How easily it would be for me to _kill _you?"

From behind him, Zero can hear Yuuki gasp, along with the worried sobs of three obnoxious girls.

Oh, right.

Them.

"Yuuki," Zero says calmly, his narrowed lilac orbs not budging an inch away from Aidou's, even with his words. "Take those three to Kaien. Now."

"But Zero - "

"I said now," he interrupts harshly, mouth grim.

He can practically see her shaking her head furiously in his mind. "No, no, Zero. I won't leave you - "

"I'll be fine," Zero assures her, but his voice is pinched. "Like I said," the prefect smirks, but it doesn't at all look as convincing as it normally does, "He's _harmless_."

Eyes blazing with anger, the noble brings a hand back, releasing one of Zero's, with his fingers knotted into a claw. "I'll show you harmless," he seethes -

With his now free hand, Zero reaches beneath his uniform blazer, and pulls out Bloody Rose, ignoring the stinging in his palm as the suddenly brutually hot metal meets torn flesh - he's pressing the barrel of the gun into the center of Aidou's pliable forhead, finger poised readily on the trigger.

"That's quite enough, Hanabusa."

Before him, a second after the regal order reaches their ears, Aidou is dropping to his knees, hands fisted tightly against the ground, and head lowered. Tiny sounds of discomfort escape from between his clenched teeth. Zero blinks in shock, watching as the ice chaining him to the ground is melted to a puddle of water, soaking the hems of his pants and his socks.

Still, despite being released completely, Zero doesn't turn to see the face that he knows belongs to the silk voice. Instead, he points 'Rose at Aidou's painfully tensed form, lips tightly pressed together in a frown of disdain.

"Zero," and it's Kaname again, only this time, his tone lacks the authority it had possessed before when addressing Aidou. Now, it's soft - pleading almost. "Put the gun down. Trust me when I say that Hanabusa will be suffiently punished for his behavior." A pause. "And you as well, Akatsuki."

Zero scrunches his nose, but does as Kaname requests anyway, tucking his beloved 'Rose into his breast pocket with a huff, and resists the urge to close the almost-fight with a single kick to Aidou's heaving chest, knowing that Kaname would definitely not appreciate his childish antics. So, instead, like the mature fifteen year old boy he was, Zero leaves the blonde noble as he is, and turns to deal with the matter of his little word slip-up.

He's still not exactly sure what expression he expected to see on Kaname's face - he may never be. What he is sure of, on the otherhand, is that he had not, in the least, expected _this_.

Never, in his entire existance - since his first memory of pure white snow and angels - had he seen such a darkness. Not even when Kaname had squeezed the life out of Zero's attacker ten years ago - not even when he had stared into the eyes of death itself, and watched, by his own hand, that woman take her last breath. Nor when he, Zero, had pulled a knife out and threatened Kaname with it - his _savior_.

No, the face he was making now was entirely more sinister. At least when he had killed that unnamed vampire on that night, his eyes had held some compassion - some understanding. Sympathy. And at least when Zero had 'turned on him', his gaze radiated a humanizing sadness. But this face wasn't the face of a human.

It was animalistic - painted with a single shade of vengeful red, not a spot of white in sight.

_All red._

An entire shiver runs over Zero's body and down his spine - and it has nothing to do with the ice water staining his socks.

It takes him a second, although it should've been realized in less than that, but he sees the correlation between Kaname's unwavering glare pointed directly at Aidou, and the whimpers of pain that escape Aidou's mouth.

Kaname was... Was Kaname doing _that_? Surely he wasn't. Surely it was -

The wine orbs narrow slightly and Aidou's cries escalate. Zero thinks he sees something drip onto the dark grass and he severely hopes it's a tear and not -

Not... _that_.

"Kaname?" Zero murmurs with an alarmed expression.

He receives no response - not even a twitch.

"Kaname, are you - is that _you_? Are you doing that?" Zero tries again, catching Yuuki's equally as frightened, wide-eyed gaze.

Still nothing, and it's growing immensely worse - Zero knows what he saw now is a tear because there are many following it.

With his typical rash (that somehow managed to come off as brave) tendencies, Zero stalks forward to the unmoving pureblood until he's barely a foot away. "Yo, Kaname!" he snaps, and brings his injured hand back in a fist, allowing it to barrel closer and closer to the pureblood's face -

For a brief moment of surprise, he actually thinks that he's going to do it - that he was going to smack an almighty pureblood square in the nose. But, to his relief (and slight disappointment), the vampire catches his fist in his palm, sending a glare in the direction of the unknown assualter, and just like that, the hateful glaze in his eyes disintegrates into thin air.

Aidou's wailing comes to a complete stop, and his petrified cousin rushes to his side, whispering something into his ear that Zero can't hear - and doesn't care enough to try to.

"Zero," Kaname breathes. "What are you - "

"I started it," Zero states in a bland, matter-of-fact tone.

Kaname's eyebrows raise. "What?"

"It wasn't Aidou's fault. I started it. He was just defending himself." It's a fucking big lie and they all know it - after all, _he_ was the one literally frozen to the ground. He was the one _bleeding_. "I'll turn myself in to Cross. But first, I need a favor. See, I kinda used the v-word in front of these three - " he points to the Day class girls who jump in fear, especially anxious after the startling display their beloved 'Idol-senpai' and 'Kaname-senpai' had given them, " - and I was hoping you could take care of that."

"Of course," Kaname nods, and with a swipe of his hand, the three are passing out, hitting their heads on the padded ground with a muted thud. "They won't remember a thing."

It was a bittersweet solution - Zero was kind of hoping they'd have at least some vague recollection of the events that transpired that night. That would fucking teach them to sneak out of their dorm rooms...

* * *

"Let me see your hand."

Zero glanced up from his intertwined fingers with a sheepish smile. "It's that obvious?"

It hadn't started bothering him until they'd dropped the girls off in the Sun dorm - Kaname and Zero had left Yuuki to drag them to their respective rooms by herself because, to Zero's pleasure, they weren't allowed anywhere near the female-inhabited area of the on-campus housing. Instead, Kaname had opted to accompany Zero to his room, and normally, he would have shot down the idea before the words had even managed to leave the pureblood's mouth - the last thing Zero wanted to do was inconvenience him - but, he knew that the longer he kept Kaname from Aidou and Kain, the better their chance of survival would be. Not that Zero cared. Because he didn't. Not at all.

"Not really," Kaname murmurs - but Zero knows he's just lying to make him feel better - impatiently deciding to forgo waiting for Zero to honor his request, and reaches out for the silver-haired boy's clutched hand with soothing but firm piano fingers. "What happened?"

He cups the injured appendage between both palms, rolling it back and forth like the steady rocking of a ship on calm seas, and he does it so effortlessly that Zero suspects the comforting motion is so natural and unconscious - like breathing. Of course, Kaname exuded the word natural - everything about him was. His charm, his kindness, his strength - all came out as if unintentionally. Even his unnatural beauty, which was so foreign to the naked eye that no matter how many times you sat there and studied it - and god, Zero had tried - still managed to shock you to your very core. To Zero's very core.

Kaname was... well, Kaname.

Zero resists the urge to shiver at the cool finger pads brushing against his overheated skin. He wished Kaname would stop, despite every nerve ending protesting at the thought. When he did things like this - these effortless things that Zero knew he would find very difficult to reenact had the role's been reversed - it made Zero's palms wet with cold sweat, and his stomach flip uncomfortably. It was just so strange - so far from normal - and yet Kaname seemed to pull it of with a serene expression and unwavering red-velvet eyes.

When he looks up from the slender, ivory fingers tracing his clenched hand, he realizes with a start that Kaname is staring right at him, eyebrows raised. "Err, what was the question?"

Kaname's brow furrows in worry, but a conflicting grin forms along his lips. It's an awkward face, Zero can tell from that, but mostly because it looks awkward to maintain - not necessarily on the pureblood himself, because nothing looked awkward on _him_. Or, at least, Zero had yet to discover what did. "What happened?"

Zero blinks, lilac irises almost completely swallowed by the pitless black of his pupil.

"To your hand..." Kaname adds with that same amused and bewildered smile, his wine-eyes dancing with a flickering red.

"Oh," Zero realizes. "Oh. I... fell." The factual excuse sounds even false to Zero's ears, and, for good measure, he tags on a, "From a tree," because _that _would no doubt increase the credibility of the statement by tenfold. After all, people fell from twenty foot trees almost entirely unscathed - minus a teeny hand-sore - all the friggin' time.

All the time.

"A tree," Kaname repeats dubiously.

"Yep," Zero says with a nod.

Kaname's smirk falls, and his lips twirk into a melancholy frown. "Why are you defending him, Zero? I thought you hated Aidou."

"I'm telling the truth," Zero assures him. It was still considered the truth if you just omitted the important parts, right? His nose scrunches. "And I hate _vampires_, not Aidou."

"I'm a vampire."

And Zero almost laughs out loud at that. As if he could forget! If Kaname was anything, inhuman would be it. No human looked like _that_.

The prefect grimaces instead because the former seemed hardly appropriate - taking into consideration that the previous sentence was murmured with a saddened and distant gaze. "Yeah, but with you, it's different."

"Different how?" Kaname questions curiously, seemingly brightening at the notion, though Zero can sense some genuine desperateness behind the flippant tone.

"I dunno. Just is."

"Oh," Kaname responds, and Zero would almost say he sounded disappointed if he didn't know any better. The pureblood ends the conversation there by prying Zero's tensed fingers apart, and brings Zero's injured hand closer to his face with narrowed eyes.

He knows it's stupid because, after all, it's just his hand, but somehow, the way Kaname is staring at the skin makes Zero blush a self-conscious red. It made him feel, well, exposed in a way, and Zero despised the overwhelming weakness that accompanied it.

"So, what's the verdict, doctor? Will I live?" Zero chuckles teasingly, hiding his previous, odd reaction, and attempting to lighten the mood. Now, if only Kaname would meet him halfway -

"You lied to me," the pureblood states with a twisted frown, not so much as bothering to glance up from what Zero suspects to be a cut decorating his palm.

The prefect's eyes widen. "What are you - "

"Did Akatsuki do this?"

"Akatsuki?" Zero splutters, yanking his arm back with a single jerk. "Who the fuck is Ak - "

Kaname grips his hand tightly though, his clean-cut nails digging into the pliable flesh of Zero's inner wrist, and Zero's efforts are futile against the vampire's strength. "Kain Akatsuki. Did he do this?"

Zero again makes to rip away from his encasing grasp, but Kaname squeezes even tighter, the feeling of a tiny, dull blade piercing ivory skin soon following. "Ouch, Kaname. Fuck, leggo!" he exclaims, and as soon as he says it, Kaname's wine-orbs flicker with a new light in realization, as if belonging to a high-powered bulb.

"I'm sorry," he quickly says with a furrowed brow, and then slackens his hold to nonexistance, waiting for Zero to react. Waiting for him to snap his hand away and then growl out angry slurs at the pureblood for nearly drawing blood. For being careless. For being so unlike himself.

Zero simply sighs, exasperated like a berating parent, and leaves his wounded appendage between Kaname's now overly-careful palms. "Did Kain do what?"

The brunette glances at him incredulously, though it's diluted slightly by the guilt that still darkens his eyes. "Burn your hand."

"No... Why?" Zero blinks, biting his lips in confusion.

"... It's burnt," Kaname responds, lips pinched as if Zero was the most clueless person in the world - a look that said boy doesn't in the least appreciate.

Zero blinks. _Burnt?_ Why on earth would it be burnt? He leans forward, ignoring that once he can finally view his hand comfortably he isn't at all _comfortable_ - each and every one of Kaname's measured releases of breaths tickling the sensitive and now flushed skin of his cheek. The aroma of the exhales fill his nose, and it's intoxicating - like sweet cinammon. He doesn't linger on the thought for long though, because again, doing so makes him uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. Instead, he peers down, making extra care to not meet Kaname's eyes in the process.

Sure enough, the flesh that had been decorated with shallow albeit painful flesh wounds is now a wrinkled, dark-toned pink. The dried blood was still there, of course, but most of it had wiped off onto Zero's other hand, making the ugly burn scar extremely visible.

He searches his mind in mild confusion for the source. Funny thing about having a high-tolerance for pain, often times you can't even fucking remember where and when you got hurt to begin with. But, with that being said, the wound was nasty enough that he would think he'd have at least a faint recollection of receiving it. Even now, it stung with the faint touch of chilled air, and even blistered up in some places. Definitely a first degree burn, if not more. It was ghastly.

Zero's nose wrinkles in disgust. "Gross."

He looks up then, wanting to judge Kaname's reaction, but the pureblood's stoic features give him absolutely nothing to work with.

"If Akatsuki didn't do this, who did?"

Zero grimaces, knowing full well Kaname's explanation was really the only one he could think of that made any sense. Just like his cousin Aidou could create and manipulate ice, Kain could do so with fire.

Out of all this, Zero finds the fact that those polar opposites somehow managed to get along the most baffling.

"I - I have no idea," the silver-haired teen answers honestly with a flippant shrug.

"You have no idea," Kaname repeats blandly and slowly, as if tasting the lame excuse on tongue. He must not like its flavor because he frowns immediately after the words leave his lips. "How very convenient for Akatsuki. Without your word, I'm afraid I'll have no real proof to convict him."

Zero can't help it - the sudden shiver that racks his frame at Kaname's cool tone and hardened gaze. It was sometimes easy for him to forget, especially in his younger years, that Kaname could be _this way_. That such a thing was even a possibility. The pureblood was warm and gentle in ways that Zero thought a blood-sucking leech could never be, but, as time went by, and as both boys aged, Kaname began to finally radiate the very essence of the creature he really was. A vampire. A pureblood, no less. _The_ pureblood. So, now?

Now, things were different. That night, when he'd apologized to Kaname - when they were truly honest to each for the first time, he was on cloud nine. Being with him - with Kaname, his bestfriend, his _savior_ - he'd never felt so safe and secure.

He wasn't really sure when all that changed, but he knows for certain that it did. It just _did_. He still valued Kaname's friendship above any other bonds he'd ever formed, even the ones he had with his faux-father and sister - after all, Kaname was the first err - person - he'd ever really met, or at least, the first that he had any memory of. Like he said, Kaname was his bestfriend - the person that fucking saved his life, vampire or not. Kaname was the very reason he was standing here, outside his room's door.

So when did _this_ happen? When did being around Kaname make him feel this way? Weird. Friggin' weird. Awkward. He didn't feel safe and secure anymore. _Completely not-safe_ was more like it. Since when did he feel like cowering under the male's stare? Since when did he shiver with just a deep, rumbling voice? Since when was he like a fucking school girl, or something?

Sure, normally he could hide it well - behind sarcastic comments and condescending smiles. And no, maybe he didn't always feel this way. A lot of the times, he felt fine. So fine, like nothing was wrong, and everything was still the same. But he couldn't pretend for very long, especially when moments like these were popping up out of thin air more and more often.

He couldn't just forget, and he hated it.

Hated how it distressed it made Kaname.

But most of all, he hated how he it made him feel so weak. _This thing_ - this shivering, trembling, pulse-racing, throat-clenching mess - made him a completely different person. So fucking different, and the difference itself was frightening beyond belief.

"I'm... gonna go get Yuuki to patch this up or whatever," Zero mutters, finally pulling his tingling hand away from Kaname's. "So, I'll see ya tomorrow, okay?" It's pitiful - the way he avoids these kinds of things like the plague. Deep stuff. Emotional stuff. But he can't help it. "Don't worry about me. I'll be - I am fine."

Kaname face falls slightly, barely enough to even be visible, but being someone who had known him for ten whole years, Zero thinks he has a fair amount of knowledge regarding the topic if Kaname's facial tendencies.

"If you insist."

* * *

"I told you so."

"Shuddup."

"I did."

"I said shudd - ouch! Fuck, watch it!"

Yuuki giggles softly, an exasperated sigh stuck on her tiny, pink lips. She reaches out gently and guides Zero's clutched hand back into her own, trying to open the tightly closed fist with her nimble fingers, a knowing grin plastered on her face. "I haven't even done anything yet."

"It still hurts," he mutters under his breath begrudgingly, pride miraculously still intact, and how the hell he managed that was a foreign concept to Yuuki.

"Don't be a baby," she admonishes softly and without any real conviction, "And let me see your hand already."

Zero eyes her with squinted lilac orbs. "Fine," he relents, relaxing his tensed hand. "But first you gotta promise not to ask - "

Before he can finish his sentence, his fist is being pried open and exposed, and Yuuki is gasping with wide chocolate eyes, "Why is it burnt?"

Zero resists the urge to scream and throw things. Preferably at the girl addressing him at the very moment. "That."

He knows it was childish to ditch Kaname like he had earlier, and he knows that this is probably karma biting him in the ass for doing so. Why it decided to punish him with a hundred pound, fifteen year old girl, however, is unknown to him.

"Zero," she urges expectantly, tugging on his hand to emphasize her anxiousness, "What happened?"

"I dunno," Zero replies lamely, "And I don't care. Just make it hurt less."

She pouts, grabbing the container of rubbing alcohol she'd set on the bathroom counter and picking one of the handful of cotton swabs she'd placed beside it. "Now, this may hurt a little..."

"That's funny, because I think I recall requesting that you make it hurt le - fuck!"

Ignoring his outcry of pain, Yuuki contently - almost too contently for Zero to be comfortable with considering she's disinfecting his hand - continues to assualt his injured palm with quick dabs of alcohol-soaked cotton, humming softly under her breath.

"Say, Zero," she murmurs after a while of his teeth-clenches and hisses, and her serves-you-right-you-big-jerk, half-hearted apologies, "About what happened earlier..."

Zero rolls his eyes. "I know, I know. I was wrong, you were right. You told me it would happen, but I didn't listen - "

"No," she interrupts, halting in her movements. "No, I mean when you fell from that twenty foot tree and landed perfectly on your feet - "

"Shit, Yuuki. Not right now."

" - It wasn't normal. Far from it, actually. And I was just thinking about how it was even possible, because, let's be honest here, you're not _that _athletic, and you're nowhere near that lucky. And so I had an idea, and well, you have to _promise _not to get mad at me because of the question I'm about to ask you, okay?" It comes out as a garbled rush and only half of it is even intelligible, but Zero understands enough to get the gist.

Knowing fully that he'll regret it, Zero responds, "Shoot."

She nods, expression now far too serious for his liking. "The night your parents were killed," she starts, flinching apologetically at his sharp intake of breath. "The vampire that bit you, I - I know you said was an ex-human, but - well, do you think it's possible that it might've been a pureblood - "

Zero's shoulders tense, and his injured hand clenches, startling the girl into dropping it, allowing him to yank it back towards his body. He knows he said he wouldn't get mad, but... yeah. "Not possible."

She immediately interjects with a determination ablaze in her eyes. "I'm just saying, Zero. What you did earlier, and how you always complain about the smell of blood - saying it makes you dizzy... Maybe you're not dizzy, maybe you're hungry and you just don't realize it - "

"Not possible," he repeats, but this time, it's harsh and pointed with a malicious snarl.

"Zero, just listen for a second, okay? It's just a thought, and I could be completely off, but how are we gonna know until... well - err, just think about it. _Really think about it._ How exactly do you know that vampire was an 'E, hmm?"

"Kaien and Kaname told me, and I have no reason to not believe them," Zero responds honestly, still seething.

"Except for the fact that they didn't tell you about Kaname being a vampire!" she exclaims, arms flailing.

Zero growls. "That's different."

"How?"

"It just is! And we're done with the conversation, so why don't you just mind you're own fucking business, okay?"

At first, he thinks she's going to pout like she did before - after all, it's what she usually does when she doesn't get her way - but instead, her face tenses and her warm, brown globes meet his own. With an acute guilt, he thinks he catches the glint of a shiny droplet trailing down her cheek.

"Yuuki," he sighs, eyes closing in frustration. He wanted to slap her across the face. He wanted to pull her into his arms. He wanted to fucking sleep. It was just all too much to deal with at the current moment, and he doesn't need to add _this _to the list, either.

"Okay," she whispers with a weak, watery smile "I get it. I won't ask. I just wanna help, and I'm glad that I can at least do this for you, Zero." She points to his wounded appendage and brings it back to herself, cradling it with care. "Let me just finish cleaning it and bandaging it up, and then I'll be out of your hair, okay?"

_Fuck_.

Today was just not his day, and tomorrow wasn't looking so hot either.

* * *

**And the drama begins!**

**Reader: *with an obvious tone of sarcasm* Wow, I have NO IDEA what's gonna happen next... **

**I know. Predictable. I'm sorry. **

**But I had fun writing it, so oh well! **

**XOXO Please review! It's yummy, delicious brainfood! **


	4. Of Discoveries and Thermometers

**Hello, dearies!**

**Okay, to be honest... this chapter seems kinda filler-y. It's mostly fluff and humor and gahhh! But please read, because it has important parts, too! Besides, a little fluff never killed anyone!**

_**Disclaimer: **_**I own nothing. If I did... *insert fangirl sigh here***

_**Chapter Warning(s): **_**language, boyxboy, vampires, unintentional displays of complete sexy-ness (is that a word?) from inebriated minors, Kaien (because everything he does requires a warning), authors with the inability to get to the point and that tend to drabble on and on and on...**

* * *

His angsty-teen prediction from the night before wasn't far off. When he woke the next morning, it was with a scratchy and dry throat, little to no air-access in his nasal passage, and one helluva headache. Aidou hadn't managed to freeze off one of his toes, but he'd succeeded in the next best thing.

The fucker gave Zero the fucking common cold - something he hadn't had since he was nine.

Zero had originally thought it to be an urban legend that only really happened in cartoons and books, but apparently you can get sick through your fucking legs and shit. Something about your body temperature dropping and that exposing your immune system to - fuck if he knows!

What he did know, however, is that he feels horrible. Like he was ran over twice and then thrown into dumpster.

He tries to go to school, he really does. He gets up out of bed, dresses for 'success', and pads down to the breakfast table and everything. Granted, when he actually reaches the table and takes in his family's confused and worried expression, he realizes that the 'dressing' part he'd actually accidentally skipped out on and that he was clad only in his underwear and a pair of mix-matched socks.

To make matters worse, Kaname is there, most likely to check up on him considering the terms they'd parted on the night before, seated at the table like it's the most normal thing in the entire world for a vampire to be up and about at six in the morning, surprised and wide-eyed. Amused.

Zero's cheeks flush even warmer than his already over-heated face had been a second ago, and he mumbles, "I don't feel well."

Kaien simply nods, rising slowly from his place at the wooden table. "Yes." He shuffles towards the boy, and once he reaches him, leans forward until their faces are inches apart and their foreheads are touching -

The silver-haired boy's head is shooting back within a second of their brows making contact. He doesn't feel _that_ unwell. "Hey, just what the fuck do ya think you're doin'?" he slurs with a glare.

Kaien pouts. "Taking your temperature, Zero-chan." He stretches in closer again -

Zero raises his hands and shoves the man away. "Well, do it like a fucking normal person and use your fucking hand! And _stop_ calling me that! I may be sick, but I'm not - "

"Allow me," a velvety voice is murmuring softly, and Zero can taste sweet cinnamon on his tongue. Kaname. He hadn't noticed it before, but sure enough, the vampire had moved when Kaien had gone in for the kill, and was at Zero's side. He feels cool piano fingers slide across his painfully hot forehead, and before he can catch himself, he emits a satisfied moan and slaps his own hand on the other male's, holding the refreshingly cold palm to his burning skin.

There's a sharp intake of breath that he happily overlooks, too busy basking in the glorious feeling that the chilled digits created in his fever-induced haze. He wondered what they would feel like if they were -

"He definitely has a fever," Kaname says, interrupting him from his musings, and his tone is not as smooth-sounding as before - rough, almost, if satin could be rough.

Kaien hums in amused agreement, but Zero could care less, because oh yes, he just remembered that Kaname had another hand, and with startling accuracy for an ill person, grabs it and brings it to his cheek. His eyelids flutter closed, his lilac orbs nearly rolling into the back of his head, and he releases another pleased groan.

"Err, Cross," he hears Yuuki speak up from somewhere in the back of his mind, but he doesn't pay much note to it. "Maybe Zero should stay home today."

"Yes, that would probably be best," Kaien responds quickly after. "Zero-ch - Zero, go back to bed, okay?"

"M'kay," Zero sighs, making no move to honor his request, and shifts Kaname's hand from his forehead to his uncovered cheek. He takes the other one and moves it down to his neck, shivering at the icy touch. After a while, however, he decides that his neck really isn't all that hot anymore, and slides the palm further down, past his clavicle and closer to his sternum -

The ice fingers are leaving his skin in a flash, ripping themselves from his lazy grip, and with a tiny sound of displeasure, Zero blinks his dreary eyes open.

Before him and closer than he thought, Kaname is standing rigidly, his arms glued tightly to his sides and his face tense - made up of a set jaw, clenched teeth, thinly-pressed lips, and hard, unmoving, wine-colored globes.

He takes in the pureblood's odd appearance with unfocused eyes, and then glances over at Kaien, who's gazing at Kaname with the most smug face Zero's seen on him since, well, ever. Of course, seconds after being caught by the sick teen, Kaien turns back to Zero - always the doting father - and rests his hand atop his shoulder.

"Zero, go to bed. I'll stay home to take care of you - "

Even with his incoherence, Zero doesn't let that one pass. "You stay home everyday."

"That's - that's not true! I have a job. I own a school! I do things. Paperwork. I pay bills. I keep the books. I write letters to parents for crying out loud! I even - " he cuts himself off, noting Zero's blank stare, and emits an exasperated sigh, rubbing at his temples. "Just go upstairs, Zero... Oh, and take off those _ridiculous_ socks."

* * *

When Zero wakes for the second time, the sky is darker, nearing sunset, and his sleeping patterns will now be fucked up for the rest of the week, but he doesn't really give a shit, because frankly, he feels good. Great, even. His limbs are still a little ache-y but that could have less to do with his cold, and more to do with the fact that he slept for nearly twelve hours straight.

However, when he pulls his bed sheets back, and takes in his barely clothed state, it all comes back to him, and _fuck_.

He'd walked downstairs dressed like this. He'd talked to Kaname dressed like this. Oh god, he'd rubbed Kaname's hand pretty much up and down his body and purred like a fucking cat - okay, slight exaggeration, but mortifying no less.

Zero feels his cheeks warm to a blaring red, and he bites his lip. It was possible that he could just be remembering wrong, right? After all, he was pretty out-of-it. As a matter of fact, the whole thing could have been a dream. Maybe he didn't even go downstairs to begin with. Maybe -

Nope - fuck - he spots them, right there, a foot away from his bed: those fucking mix-matched socks.

Zero groans and buries his face in his hands. Surely Kaname wouldn't hold his weirdness against him... He was sick - Kaname probably thought that to be a viable excuse, right? Purebloods don't really get sick, or at least, Zero doesn't think they do, so he could easily blame it on that.

Or better yet, Zero could just act like he didn't recall a thing. That would be fairly believable too, right?

Another peek towards his window and Zero estimates it to be about the time when the Night class makes their ever so dangerous trek from the Moon dorms to the Academy's school building - which, ironically enough, only made up about an eighth of the campus grounds - and though he in no way wants to face the music, he knows for certain that there is no way Yuuki can handle all those fangirls by herself. The siblings could hardly handle them together as is.

Being the loving brother he is, Zero hoists himself out of bed, ignoring the gruesome pops of his knees, and stumbles his way to the haphazardly discarded pile of fabric that was his uniform. He picks the clothing up with a look of distaste, studying each wrinkle that was a result of laying for far too many hours in a crumpled heap on his bedroom floor. But oh well, it would have to do. After all, it wouldn't be the most embarrassing state of dress he had been in that day.

His cheeks warm again at the thought, and he drops the suddenly offensive article of clothing to the floor with a loud groan, shaking his head in disbelief. Yuuki _so _wasn't going to let this one go... He could practically see it now - her smug grin, her condescendingly raised eyebrows, her wrinkled nose -

A glint of silver and a thud interrupt his petty worries, and he jumps, still very off-balanced by his recent state of illness that he has to hop around spastically to not fall over flat on his face. When he regains some of his stamina, he kneels down, two fingers uncurling to languidly graze cool metal, and he tenses in realization.

Bloody Rose. He'd left the poor girl on the ground the entire night.

With an oddly maternal kind of coo, Zero frowns slightly at his carelessness, and pushes aside cloth to grasp the grip of the gun in his hand tightly, raising it to his chest so the other hand can stretch over to stroke the barrel. The fingers supporting the gun slide around with liquid ease, inspecting it for nonexistent scars -

When he brings a single finger back, it's painted red. _Why was it red?_

He opens his hand in confusion, allowing the weapon to balance securely on his bandaged palm, and leans forward to inspect the grip.

_Red. Tainting pure white._

A deep mahogany crusting the silver plating.

It's blood. Dried blood. _His _blood.

Oh, right - yes, his. He shoots with his right hand - his currently bandaged hand. His injured hand. He'd scraped it on the tree and he must have smeared it on his gun when he'd near pressed it to Aidou's temple. Nothing special. Nothing shocking. Nothing -

But then, he remembers it - a brief flash of a memory, but still so vivid - so real that he knows it had to have happened. Either that, or he was losing his mind. At the current moment, both notions were _very _plausible.

Still, here it is, pressing persistently into the center of his forehead, begging for attention -

_"I'll show you harmless!"_

_The grip around his wrist slackens, and in a moment of complete instinct, he reaches into his blazer and pulls out his beloved gun, clutching the grip with all he possibly could._

_And it fucking burns - burns like the licking of flames._

_But he can't feel a thing - too high off of the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He's numb to the pain - just as he always had been._

_"That's quite enough, Hanabusa."_

He stares down at his bandaged hand with wide lilac eyes, now knowing what had put the wound beneath the wrapping there - what had caused the hideous burn mark.

His gun. His own fucking gun, and why?

What had happened to make 'Rose react so violently? So insubordinately?

The answer was clear, painted gruesomely on the frame of the gun.

_Red_.

The anti-vampire weapon had reacted viciously upon contact with the color - with his blood - and that could mean absolutely one thing, and one thing only.

But that was... how had he phrased it?

_Not possible._

* * *

Still shaken beyond belief, Zero manages his way downstairs - each step requiring a muttered assurance of, "Not possible." Sometimes two.

When he nears the last step, he's not sure why he's even surprised. After all, Kaien _had_ offered up his services as a bed-side nurse. It's just, he hadn't expected him to take the task this seriously...

"What the fuck are you doing?" Zero asks, approaching the kitchen doorway, dreary eyes scanning bemusedly around the cluttered room, where not even an inch of the _room_ was visible. It was practically filled to the fucking ceiling with about every type of medical equipment one could think of. Most were practical - throat lozenges, cold and heat compasses, thermometers (Zero felt relief when noticing that one... he didn't want to have to fend off Kaien's ever so persistent forehead again) - but some... well, let's just say Zero was a little more than slightly wary at the vast amount of assorted syringes decorating the floor.

Seated cross-legged in the very middle of all the ridiculousness, Kaien looked up from whatever it was he was hunching over and staring so determinedly at. "Hmm? Oh, Zero! You shouldn't be up... And watch your language!" With a chastising frown, the man points to the stove, where a steaming pot sat. "I was just about to bring you some soup! It's a special recipe I found in this one book. Apparently, it helps cure colds."

Zero's nose crinkles, because oh, _that was where that smell was coming from_. "Not hungry." It's a lie, but there's no way he's putting that putrid smelling stuff anywhere near his mouth. Almost immediately, Cross begins to protest, so, for good measure, Zero tags on, "I'm feeling better, actually."

It works. The man's eyebrows raise, as do the corners of his mouth, and he makes to stand, wobbling a bit as he regains the feeling in his legs. "Really?"

Zero nods with a mental sigh of relief. One catastrophe averted.

Kaien's lips purse in deliberation. "Okay. Well, at least let me take your temperature, then."

"As long as you don't try to invade my personal space again," Zero relents, because really, this wasn't that bad a deal, as far as compromises went. Especially given the history of his usual agreements with Cross. It was needless to say that Zero always felt he's come out of the consensus, with the short straw gripped bitterly in his hand.

Kaien smiles. "Oh, that won't be necessary. As a matter of fact, you can do this part yourself." With that, he stretches his arm out, waiting for Zero to follow suit, and then drops something into his palm.

Zero stares at the object for a second before glaring suspiciously up at his guardian. It was a thermometer, he knew that much, but - "Why does it look so weird?"

"Well, it's a rectal thermometer, so it - "

"No."

"But, Zero," Kaien rushes, "I read that it's more accurate than oral ones, and - "

Zero places the offending item back in the Chairman's hand. "Then stop reading."

Cross frowns. "If you're nervous, Zero, I'll help you - "

"If you so much as _touch_ me with that thing..."

* * *

He'd ended up ditching Yuuki and his duties as prefect, because, hey, he might as well take advantage of his sick day. So, instead of assisting the helpless girl like any good brother, he'd ventured off to the horses' stable.

He holds the slightly bruised apple under the creature's mouth and sighs, the skin of his hand tingling as White Lily's lips brush against it when she leans over to happily accept the offered meal. If he was being honest with himself, which he absolutely hated to do, he would have made some note of the fact that his skipping out on the daily switch-over had less to do with his laziness, and more to do with his incredible desire to _not _see the man he'd completely embarrassed himself in front of. Oh, and then there was the other, far more worry-worthy knowledge that _oh yeah, he could maybe-kinda-possibly be a fucking vampire or something._

But that was 'not possible'.

... Right?

He sucks in a breath and wipes his moistened palm on his wrinkled uniform pants, before crumpling to the hay-covered ground in a heap.

'Not possible' wasn't near comforting enough. 'Not possible' could still happen. "Not possible' wasn't 'impossible'. It was a step below, and Zero had never thought that distance to have seemed so large until now.

So fucking large.

* * *

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

Zero's eyes snapped open, and he jerked into a sitting position, no doubt looking ridiculous with pieces of straw sticking messily into tendrils of his silver hair.

The amused grin that forms on Kaname's lips confirms his fears.

"Yeah," he responds breathlessly, which was less of a result from being startled by the pureblood's sudden appearance - because, let's face it, he was quite used to that. No, the anxiety that began to wet his palms and make his stomach twist was the effect of another, much more worthy thought.

_The gun. His hand._

The pureblood's brow furrowed at the younger teen's reaction. "Are you not?"

Zero blinks. "Hmm?"

Kaname's lips turn into a frown. "Feeling better?"

Before Zero can give an answer, the vampire is advancing forward and crouching down so that their heads are level, faces merely a few inches apart. Wine orbs study him slowly, and he finds himself shifting uncomfortably under the intense stare. "What are you - " he tries, but Kaname silences him with a hand.

A hand that, like he recalled from his fever-haze, is placed softly on his forehead.

It's funny actually, because before, he remembers the appendage feeling really cold. Unbearably so, almost, had he not felt so flushed. But now, he finds that the skin is actually quite hot, and he begins to blush for an entirely different reason.

Was it bad that he momentarily considered a repeat performance of what he'd previously described as 'rubbing Kaname's hand pretty much up and down his body and purring like a fucking cat'?

"You don't feel hot," Kaname muses aloud, ripping Zero from the embarrassing turn his trail of thought had taken.

_No, but you fucking do._

"Yeah," Zero repeats lamely, trying with everything in his power to not focus on the heat that had yet to leave his brow (and failing miserably). "I slept it off."

"But you still appear to be a little faint," Kaname worries, head tilting slightly to the side.

Zero can't help that his cheeks warm to a bright red, because Kaname was right. He was feeling faint. Just not for the reason the pureblood suspected, and certainly not for one he himself wanted to think about.

_Jeez, what the fuck was wrong with him?_

When Kaname finally removes his hand, Zero resists the urge to release the breath he'd been holding for god knows how long all at once, and instead disperses it in tiny, innocent little puffs. "Nothing a little more sleep can't cure," Zero assures him once he can inhale properly again.

Satisfied with that response more than he was the others, Kaname rises from his kneeling position, and offers his hot-as-burning-coals hand to help Zero do the same. "Humans are so odd," Kaname informs him while doing so. "Surely one does not need to sleep _that much_."

Human. Right. Kaname had said 'human', and if anyone knew if Zero was a human or not, it would be Kaname. After all, Kaname was the one that saved him that night, and he'd seen the vampire that attacked Zero - he'd killed it with his own hand. If Kaname said it was an ex-human, it was an ex-human.

Bloody Rose had been known to act up before. She'd even gone off once without Zero firing. She'd just made a mistake, that's all.

Zero was worrying over nothing. He was being paranoid and dumb. That's it. That's all.

_He was okay. Kaname had said so himself, after all._

"It does get quite exhausting," Zero laughs.

_And Kaname wouldn't lie._

* * *

**Gah, did that scene with Kaien and Zero feel slightly crackish to you, 'cause it did to me...? XD **

**Anyslut, sorry it's so short, but hopefully the ridiculously, tooth-aching sweetness of a clingy, sick Zero made up for it! **

**Thanks for all the reviews, alerts, favs, and such! XOXO**

**P.S. Next chapter is St. Xocolatl's Day! (and I'm super pumped for this one)**


	5. St Xocolatl's Day

**Hi - DON'T START YELLING YET - so I'm sorry I died for a few months. It was a really unpleasant experience for me, but I talked to death, and we worked things out, so all is good now. **

**Okay, now you can yell. Only not really. Because the people around you will think that's weird.**

_**Disclaimer: **_**Nothing is owned by me, despite the multiple requests I made for the rights to VK on my Christmas List. But I'm so fucking glad I got socks and plates with tacky chickens on them. **

_**Chapter Warning(s)**_**: language, boyxboy, chocolate poisoning, no Kaien (I'm sorry, I know it's a deal breaker, but bear with me for a chapter, m'kay?), comments from a usually responsible adult that may or may not be sexual**

* * *

"How about this one?"

With a sigh, Zero dutifully opens his mouth, eyes trained intensely on the gently loved book lazily resting in his hands, and waits patiently for his adopted sister to force yet another deformed chocolate truffle down his throat.

_Worse_, he immediately thinks. Its bitterness assaults his taste buds the second the two have the misfortune of meeting. At least the chocolate three trials back had taken ten.

Doing his best to restrain a grimace as he chews and a sigh of relief when he finally manages to swallow, the male prefect emits a noncommittal grunt, and returns his near watering eyes to the suddenly twisting words on the passage he'd read five times now and had yet to comprehend once, because _bleck_.

Zero isn't really a big fan of sweets, but that was fucking _disgusting_.

Of course, there's no way in hell that he was going to tell Yuuki that. And not because she'd be upset - let's face it, the girl knew she _sucked_ when it came to all things edible. No, Zero wouldn't dare allow the truth to slip past his lips because that was what got him into this situation in the first place.

_Zero, will you do me a favor and taste this? ... Wait, why are you coughing... Zero... ZERO, don't spit it out! Oh, come on, it can't be that bad! Here, wait, I'll fix it, okay! Just let me start another batch..._

And another.

And another.

Suspicion glows in her squinted brown eyes. "Zero?"

He knows not answering will probably give himself away, but he can't open his mouth, because he swears that if he does... Well, let's just say that emptying his stomach out on the ground would change the previous matter from a 'probably' to a 'definitely'.

But 'probably' is all Yuuki needs.

"It's horrible, isn't it?" she murmurs, shoulders sagging in defeat.

_Fuck it._ "Lethal," Zero admits with a dry smile.

She groans and buries her face in her hands. "I'm doomed," she whines. "Who even made this stupid holiday, huh?"

"Dunno. But if I ever meet them, it won't matter who they are for very long."

"I mean, c'mon - " Yuuki blinks, as if she just registered that Zero had spoken. "Wait, what?"

Zero casts her an innocent grin. "Pardon?"

The girl's brow furrows but she says nothing more on the matter. "I suck at cooking," she sighs finally before flopping down on the leather couch, and swinging her feet into Zero's lap, bare toes wiggling and efficiently obscuring Zero's book from view. "Actually, I guess chocolate's baked not cooked... so really, I suck at - "

"No, you pretty much suck at both," Zero quips closingly and knocks away Yuuki's legs. They fall to the floor with a thud. "Luckily, you happen to know a spectacular baker."

The girl's up and on her feet in a flash - all obnoxiously peppy bounces and ridiculously toothy grins. "You're going to help me?"

Zero hardly sees the point in responding; the question's asked with such pleasure that he's fairly positive she already knows his answer.

"This is fantastic!" Yuuki exclaims triumphantly through a mouthful of Zero's blood, sweat, and tears. Well, only the second one, really, but still, it had taken quite longer than he had expected. For someone in such desperate need of help, Zero'd thought Yuuki would have been less picky about the results. Heck, his worst would still trump her best tenfold.

But no, the girl had wanted each individual piece to be perfect, equal-sized spheres (which was, by the way, the _most difficult_ shape to make... Besides a triangle, of course.)

On second thought, he's just glad she didn't ask for something completely impossible and ridiculously cheesy like a heart or something.

"You're amazing, Zero!" The female prefect giggles giddily as she stuffs another truffle into her mouth. "These are seriously great."

He resists the embarrassingly powerful urge to smile at the compliment, and instead tries to maintain his customary scoff. "Yes, but if you keep eating them there won't be any left."

Sheepishly, she plucks up one more tiny ball before reaching for a box far too extravagant considering its contents spawned from an oven. With nimble fingers, she places the pieces individually into two rows, and nudges them around with careful fingertips until they settle into what she deems perfection, although, to Zero, they looked exactly the same as they did before. Plus, they'd all no doubt get knocked around once the box was sealed, anyway.

Girls were weird for celebrating this holiday. Girls were weird in general.

The over-the-top presentation is topped off with a large pink bow - something Zero would shiver in disgust at if he'd been the one receiving the gift.

Speaking of which...

"So, who's it for?"

Yuuki freezes, but keeps her eyes and hands trained on the already-finished task. "What?" she asks innocently, as if she had barely caught his question.

Zero didn't believe her for a second.

"The chocolate," he says, lips curling into a smirk when her cheeks burn red.

Still, she refuses to look up, though this time, it is without even a bit of tact. She simply stares down at the present doing absolutely nothing. "That's not - "

"My business?" Zero's grin is now full-fledged and his lilac orbs are flashing with mischief. He clucks his teeth patronizingly. "But you see, it kind of is. I did help you, after all. It's really the least you could do."

When her head raises, it's with a pout decorating her mouth. "Zero," she whines unabashedly. "Don't make me say it."

"So, Kaname then?" he laughs as she squirms in embarrassed displeasure. "I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. Still, part of me was wondering whether or not you'd go for blondie this year."

Her eyes widen and with seriousness that makes him want to chuckle again, she says, "Oh no, Zero. Not after what he did to you. I won't forgive him that easily."

Zero reaches out and tucks a strand of the girl's stray hair behind her ear, and he smiles softly. "I can fight my own battles, you know," he assures her.

She blanches slightly at her brother's uncharacteristically sweet gesture, but recovers quickly. "Yeah, but it doesn't hurt to have a little help, either."

Zero pulls away too quickly for any of it to make sense: the delicate pink on porcelain skin - a color similar to that stupid bow, actually - the slightest aroma of freesia and vanilla, the sudden heaviness of the fingers behind her ear, as if pulling them away took every bit of his willpower... the warmth beneath those finger tips, the steady beat of a heart...

A tiny ache, barely there. Hardly noticable. Not at all worth mentioning. Something that could be quickly disregarded as a catch of the breath. Of a scratchiness brought on by a dry throat, or a simple side effect of his cold that had been obstinately hanging around for the past couple of months.

So that's what he did - disregard it.

As a matter of fact, ten minutes later, he'd scarcely remember the incident. And in twenty, it would have faded from his recollection completely.

"So, ready for tomorrow?" the girl chirps cheerfully after a moment of silence.

Zero groans, because _oh yeah_, he'd completely forgotten why she was in the kitchen - a place that Yuuki, for everyone's sakes really, should avoid at all costs. _Fucking -_

"Oh, come on, Zero. It's our first time really celebrating! It'll be fun. Just give it a chance."

Grumbling, he ignores the girl's futile - but endearingly so - attempts, and brings his hand up to the very base of his neck, scratching the itchy skin there insistently.

Fucking holiday is giving him a rash, and it hadn't even started yet.

But, oh boy, isn't he excited.

* * *

The silver-haired prefect flinches for the third time in a row as a whistle's criminally high-pitched shriek pierces the air. And he was expecting a fourth time in the distant future. Honestly, he thinks that if the girl hasn't already caught on by now that the sound really only worked on well-trained dogs, it's not happening any time soon. If he was a good brother, he would tell her. But he's not, and as much as the sound annoys him, it's fairly amusing to watch Yuuki to get all red in the face and huffy when the mob that was once civilized enough to be referred to as the 'Day Class' doesn't immediately respond in the way she'd desired.

Abandoning the whistle with a frustrated huff, Yuuki calls out for them to get into their respective places - an idea she'd proudly come up with that morning. Cross had been very enthusiastic about the whole 'having lines designated to each Night Class member' thing as well, but Cross was enthusiastic about a lot of dumb things. Zero, on the other hand, had simply told her that if she spent as much time on her studies as she did on these ridiculously trivial things, she'd be at the top of their class.

That had soured her mood for a total of two minutes.

Which was yet another thing to hate about these kind of days. People just couldn't seem to keep those stupid smiles of their faces. Zero wonders whether the girls would stop all their smiling and screaming if they knew that showing that much teeth made them look like horses fed too many spoonfuls of peanut butter.

"Here."

The male prefect jumps, and the hand that had been unconsciously scraping at his neck stills.

At first, he's certain he must have been mistaken - that that voice couldn't possibly be talking to him - but after a few seconds of nothing, there's a soft cough, and he looks in the direction of the sound. Sure enough, a few feet to his right is a girl with thin-rimmed glasses and braids, and in her hands sits a tiny box.

It's more tastefully wrapped than Yuuki's - simple brown paper with a single blue ribbon tied into a loose bow. It's also smaller, too, and Zero imagines it couldn't hold more than two pieces of candy.

But that's not the strange part.

"Here," she repeats. "It's for you."

_That_ is.

Zero raises his eyebrows in surprise, and she flushes, the confident air she'd previously been displaying dispelling.

"If you want it, of course."

Not sure what to say, Zero reaches out and gently plucks the tiny gift from her hands. He briefly toys with the prospect of 'thank you', but she's off like a shot before he can even manage a syllable. Besides, the clicking of an opening gate reaches the ears of the anxious girls a few seconds after the exchange, so he doubts he would have been able to give all that much gratitude, anyway. And he isn't really all that grateful. Confused, yes. But grateful?

A sucked in breath, and it begins. The girls erupt into fits of excitement, and Yuuki's prided system is instantly forgotten as each black uniform pushes its way to the very middle of the path, where the Night Class is gathering with mostly bored (and some amused) expressions on their faces.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Zero hisses under his breath, eyes rolling as he spots Yuuki in the very middle of the chaos, still shouting out commands as if any of the girls gave a single fuck. "Hey!" he yells, thankful that his deeper voice carried above their girlish cries. He would've refused to go any louder, lest he risk another seemingly seasonal-but-not-really-because-it-was-almost-spring-and-it-still-won't-go-away sore throat.

Despite this, only a few heads turn, and a lot of them are from the Night Class.

"Hey!" he calls again with nearly identical results, only this time, it's with a twinge in his throat.

Fuck, all the yelling was starting to give him a headache. And he's breaking into a sweat which is insane considering it's in the middle of February. He loosens his tie with his free hand and sloppily yanks loose a few buttons. The flesh right above his collarbone burns, and he's clawing at it so roughly it might actually fall off.

"Girls, please."

It's probably the farthest thing from an order, and yet each fangirl quiets - all with perked ears and wide eyes.

And who else but Kaname Kuran could accomplish such a task with a mere two words?

Zero's almost jealous.

"Cooperate," the pureblood says with a polite smile. His wine-colored eyes coolly skim over the crowd before they catch Zero's gaze, and the pleasant curve of his mouth widens into an almost wicked grin. "You're giving your dedicated disciplinary committee a very hard time."

At that, Zero can't stop the flush that warms his cheeks, because what Kaname sees must be a fright. His shirt is now somehow unbuttoned to the middle of his ribcage and half untucked from his uniform slacks, and his tie is nowhere to be seen. A 'very hard time' was right.

It should be fairly obnoxious that the girls file into neat organized lines at Kaname's request, but Zero's too relieved to care. He simply sighs, making sure to break eye contact with the pureblood before doing so, lest he seem breathless, and attempts to not draw any attention to the fact that he's buttoning up his shirt and _basically redressing_ as he approaches Yuuki's equally flushed - for an entirely different reason, of course - side.

"Alright," Yuuki announces cheerfully enough - way more cheerful than Zero would have been in her situation - and brings her whistle back up to her lips. "On my mark, the Night class students will go to their designated lines, and the Day class students will _calmly_ and _politely_ hand them their gifts. Once you have already given a gift, you will either step to the side, or get into the _back_ of another line." She sucks in a breath of preparation but then very quickly and _very wisely_ decides to tag on, "No pushing or shoving, please."

A shrill tweet.

_And let the games begin_.

Zero's hardly surprised that Kaname's line is the longest, or that Aidou's line is the loudest (or that Aidou himself was louder than all of the rows combined). He is bewildered, however, when Yuuki does not get into line herself. Hadn't she intended to give the pureblood the chocolate he'd slaved over the night before? She had. She'd made that quite clear with her would-be-endearing-in-any-other-situation desperation. So, what - had she chickened out?

"Why are you just standing here?" Zero asks in mild irritation - okay, maybe not so mild considering that batch had taken forever and the other disgusting ones that had been forced down his throat had occupied what was left of the free time. He realizes a second too late that he's concerned over something he probably shouldn't be that concerned about. After all, it was a stupid holiday, St. Xocolatl's Day. He'd said so himself. Multiple times. _To Yuuki_.

Why is he so annoyed over something he would normally care less about?

Why is Aidou clucking like a satisfied hen? Why is some stupid Day class boy even _attempting_ to give Ruka a gift? Why doesn't she just stop flipping her fucking hair around, accept the present, and put that pitiful kid out of his misery?

And why is that girl with the blonde ponytail sucking on her lip all sullen-like? Is that what she thinks boys enjoy? Frankly, Zero thinks she looks like a pug. A pug with too much makeup and breasts. A pug that's holding up the line.

"Just give him the fucking chocolate already."

He hadn't intended for it to be so loud, let alone _said aloud_.

The pouting dog turns to Zero with wide eyes, and in horror he notes that the person her hideous expression had previously been directed at was, in fact, _Kaname_.

Kaname simply smirks, and Zero has to look away so that his face doesn't heat up in embarrassment _yet again_.

"What do you mean?" Yuuki asks, not at all fazed by his outburst. Though she shouldn't be. It's not like tactlessness was a trait he gained over night. But she is fazed. And given her awkward twitchiness, Zero thinks it has something to do with what had preceded his comment towards the blonde pug.

Seriously, her nose was all scrunched up like one, if he recalls correctly - which, he does - and there's no way Kaname found that attractive. Not that he's an expert on what Kaname's _interested_ in, because frankly, that would be a fairly uncomfortable conversation. Zero doesn't see how the Day class guys do it - talking about things like that, that is. Especially when they used such vulgar phrases like _fuck her brains out_. Figurative or not, there's nothing sexy about knocking some girl's brains out of her head.

But still, Kaname could do better. Like _way_ better. Ruka, maybe. Only no, because she's a bitch. Perhaps Yuuki then, but no - _gross_, that's his sister, and she is _way_ too young for him. And human. Very, very human.

Wait, hadn't Yuuki asked him something?

Oh, right.

"What?" Zero blinks away from his disturbing train of thought, and his eyes focus back in on the girl before him.

"What?" she repeats dumbly, nose wrinkled in confusion.

Sometimes, he wonders how they think up such compelling conversations.

"You asked me something," Yuuki says after a moment of concentration. So much - too much - that the moment almost calls for some applause. But that would be rude. Although, that's never stopped him before -

"I did," he confirms slowly - not condescendingly, of course. His cheek has been slap free for a week now, and he'd like to keep it that way.

She stares at him, incredulous. "And?" She squints at his responding silence. "What did you say. To me. Zero."

Oh. "I was curious as to why you're still here when you obviously should be over there - " he points to the still persistent-as-an-itch group of girls that have shockingly remained in a neat, organized line while scrambling to grab Kaname's attention " - giving Kaname his gift."

"I'm not going to," she murmurs quietly, sobering real quickly.

"Go over there?"

"Give him the present."

Zero's eyes widen. "Are you fucking kidding me? After all that time I spent making it? And let's not forget my being your personal taste-tester. You do realize I had to skip dinner because I was so bloated on shitty chocolate, right?" He shakes his head in a mixture of disbelief and annoyance, and sighs. "Why?

She bites her lip. "It's just... he's already gotten so many, and mine isn't anywhere near as impressive as half of theirs." She gestures over towards a girl who appears to be, from her constant swaying and trembling knees, holding twice her weight in a box that's so tall it comes up to just under her chin.

"Are you doubting my chocolate-baking expertise?" Zero asks with a raised eyebrow.

She smiles weakly. "Of course not. I - "

"Then there's no issue."

"But, Zero - "

"Ah!" He raises a hand to silence her, and then, quickly, so she won't have time to interfere, turns back to the pureblood. "Yo, Kaname!"

The gift exchange comes to a screeching halt, and both classes are struck silent.

"Zero," Yuuki hisses, eyes bulging. "What. Are. You. Doing."

He winks reassuringly at her.

"Zero, I swear, if - "

Kaname, now only a foot away, watches the two of them expectantly. "Yes?" he asks in mild amusement.

"Yuuki - " he hooks an arm around her shoulders, pulls her in tight, and then smacks a palm against her mouth " - has a present for you." Zero flinches at the last word, toe suddenly throbbing beneath Yuuki's boot.

Kaname throws the blushing and sputtering girl a charming smile. "Does she?"

Feeling his job has been completed, Zero removes his hand, and Yuuki indignantly jerks out of his hold. Brown eyes ablaze, she fixes her brother with a glare as she reaches into her pocket and retrieves the horrifyingly girly box, and Zero doesn't know why she's been so worried, because it looks equally as dumb as all the other girls' gifts. Well, besides the one tucked into his blazer's pocket.

She looks back at Kaname and her expression demurs. Then, shyly, she hands him the frilly thing.

Politely, and ever so diplomatic, he takes it into his own with a, "How very thoughtful of you, Yuuki-chan."

Zero's just about to give her his best _I-told-you-so_ grin, when a strange kind of determination crosses over her features. Her shoulders straighten, and her lips are parting - "Zero made it. Did it all without any of my help. Spent the entire night on it, actually. I just decorated the box."

Zero's jaw drops to the floor. _The fuck?_ And it's his turn to go red and throw around a bunch of half-objections and senseless hand gestures as the pureblood's pleasantly upturned lips shift into a full-fledged beam that's so overwhelmingly _cheery_, Zero's stomach does a one-eighty and his knees nearly give out, all from the sheer power of it. Not because - only because it's so foreign, and he's never - not... Shit, he doesn't need to justify his response in his _own_ head. That would just be fucking ridiculous. And insane.

Kaname's attack is gone in a matter of seconds - in it's place is a calmer smirk - and Zero thinks the vampire speaks, but all he can hear is a faint ringing. Dazedly, he simply nods to whatever the fuck the dude said before mumbling something about needing to sit down. If only he could remember how to move his legs.

* * *

It's later, when the crowds have cleared, and both classes are in their respective locations, that Zero is coherent enough to stand up and stumble to his room. On his way up the stairs, Cross shouts something at him, but he's not really in the mood to feign interest, so he simply ignores it, and stomps over to his room, wrenching the door open, and -

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Zero asks in disbelief, before slamming it back shut. He rushes back toward the stair case, leans over the banister, and calls out, "Cross, why didn't you tell me I have a visitor?"

Kaien's head peaks out from the kitchen. "But I did," he responds in confusion.

_Of course you did. _Zero sighs, pushes off the metal and turns back to his door. The brave, reasonable thing to do would be to go into his room and face the music and whatnot. But Zero is neither, so instead, he avoids the brass knob like the plague, half-sprints down the hallway to the bathroom, and locks the door behind himself. He leans his forehead against the wood and exhales loudly, before spinning around and meeting the raised eyebrows of Yuuki, whose mouth is foamy like a rabid dog's. Except, this foam is minty fresh.

Eyes still locked on him in curiosity, she bends over and rinses out her mouth with the tap, before placing her toothbrush back in its holder near the sink.

"Zero, what on earth are you doing?" she questions, using the back of her hand to dry her damp lips. Under normal circumstances, he would have grimaced in mild disgust.

"Abandoning ship," he tells her, as if such a statement made all the sense in the world.

She nods purely to appease him, and brushes past him on her way out.

And all talks of ships are forgotten as his heart comes to a screeching halt, and his shoulders tense because she is beside him, and his throat is suddenly burning like hell itself. His hand grasps at it in a quick jerk, and he doubles over with a heaving sort of cry.

"Zero," Yuuki states in alarm. "Zero, are you okay?" As she leans in close and her hair wisps against his cheek, angry pain claws against his ribcage and he swears he's going to die right then and there.

He's on fire.

"I'm fine" he wheezes out, and stumbles in the opposite direction of the girl who smells like vanilla and flowers and warmth. His crazed lilac orbs flicker around the cramped room searching for anything that would explain why flames are licking maliciously at his throat, and why his stomach is squeezing and pulling in every fucking direction. Something other than her.

He finds nothing.

"If you're sure..." she murmurs.

"I am." _Not._

"Do you want me to - "

"No!" he croaks. "I - I'm fine."

She leaves with a hesitance that informs him this will not at all be the end of the matter, and he stumbles into the shower, breaths still near snarls, hands blindly tracing over cool metal until jets of ice cold water are pelting against his back. Zero cries out in shock, but continues to stand there with gritted teeth, refusing to leave until _that horrifying feeling does_.

A second later, and he's wondering why the shower is so friggin' cold - and that's it. Although, in the back of his mind, he swears there's something else he should be thinking about - something far more important.

But he can't seem to recall what.

* * *

"Why are you still here?" Zero growls, towel hanging loose around his hips, and hand threaded tiredly in his silver locks. It's fucking freezing and he'd like for nothing more than to put actual clothing on, but as of now, that's impossible due to one Kaname Kuran seated on the edge of his bed.

It's an odd sight, sure, but Zero assumes that standing for two hours straight loses its novelty quite quickly - even to purebloods.

Kaname doesn't respond - simply stares at Zero with an incredibly odd expression on his regal features, and it's then that Zero realizes that oh right, normal people typically don't have conversations when one of them is wearing only a towel, and is dripping water onto the floor. Or at least, ones that aren't, _well - ya know..._

Flushing, Zero secures the knot above his hipbone, rushes over to his dresser, opens the top drawer and pulls out a random shirt. Now, pants -

"Um."

But Kaname seems to snap to attention at that, because he brings his hands up to cover his eyes.

When Zero's finished dressing, he clears his throat, and the pureblood's arms fall back to his side.

"So," Zero begins awkwardly, fingers toying with the hem of his shirt. "Why aren't you in class?"

"It was canceled," Kaname responds with ease, but Zero's hardly convinced.

"Uh huh."

"I wanted to thank you," the pureblood says after a moment of uncomfortable staring. "For my present."

There is something behind the innocent sentiment of gratitude. Something teasing. Something grave. Something that makes Zero flinch, and then suck in a long breath before, "Look. It was from Yuuki. I just made it because she can't bake to save her life, and she kept making me try all her shitty concoctions, which were absolutely terrible, by the way. And really, I was helping because it was in my own best interest. I've never heard of someone dying from chocolate poisoning, but there was no way in hell I was gonna be the first, so don't think I stayed up all night making you fucking chocolate that I know you don't even eat for _your sake_."

He's out of breath by the end of it, and Kaname is chuckling.

Zero is unamused.

"Okay," Kaname nods, and on his lips is a toned-down version of the dizzying smile he'd given earlier. Needless to say, Zero's glad that he's close enough to his dresser that it won't look suspicious when he leans an elbow on it for support.

"Okay," Zero replies stiffly.

They stare at each other.

Zero's eye twitches.

"So stop already!" he exclaims.

Kaname raises a single eyebrow. "Stop what?"

"Smiling at me like that."

"Like what?"

Zero's beginning to sense a pattern. He crosses his arms on his chest. "Like you're so fucking happy."

"But I am happy," Kaname says it as if was as common a fact as the sky being blue, or the world being round.

_"Why?"_

"Do I need a reason?"

"You do when you're doing it on my bed," the silver-haired boy grumbles immaturely.

Kaname's eyes are narrowing in silent laughter, and his lips are curling up in the corners. "I hadn't realized there were rules about what I can and can't do on your bed."

"There's - " Zero pauses, face burning as he repeats the sentence over in his head. "What?"

"Perhaps I have not worded that in the best way." And it's said with a completely straight and contemplative expression. Like he's conducting a study on the human behavior, and _oh, that's very interesting, let me record it in my notes_.

Zero's as red as a rose at that point, and has no desire to continue as a helpless passenger aboard this derailing train of conversation. "I think you should go."

"Is that also a rule?" Did Kaname seriously think - oh well.

"_Yes,"_ Zero bites. He then politely opens and holds the door for Kaname on his way out.

But Kaname has never been one to, when in a good mood, allow another the last word, so he stops in the doorway, whirls around, Zero really can't be sure why personal space is just something vampires don't seem to understand.

Regardless, Zero can count each and every one of the pureblood's eyelashes, not that he would, because that would be, err, questionable, and can smell a hint of warm cinnamon. He tries a step backward, but _oh yes, there is a wall there, how convenient._

And Kaname - stoic, formal, kingly Kaname - who saved his life years ago, and has been his closest friend ever since, platonically informs him - as platonically as one can when being only a few inches away - "Zero, surely you should know by now that some rules are simply meant to be broken," before leaving the silver-haired boy to color and splutter because _what the fuck is that supposed to mean_?

Zero despises holidays, and he vows from this moment on to never, ever give someone a gift _ever_ again. Especially Kaname.

* * *

**So, I realize the shower scene was probably confusing. But it'll make sense later, I promise.**


End file.
